NETWORK Rail workers will strike for 24 hours later this month over a pay dispute, according to the RMT union.
The strike, which will affect Scotland as well as England and Wales, is set for later this month after union leaders described a recent pay offer from Network Rail as “paltry”.
The strike will include signallers, control and maintenance staff which means services all over the UK will be affected.
This follows a summer of industrial action on the UK’s railways as around 40,000 RMT union members at UK-Government-owned Network Rail and 13 other train operators staged a walk out last month.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "The offer from Network Rail represents a real terms pay cut for our members and the paltry sum is conditional on RMT members agreeing to drastic changes in their working lives.
"We have made progress on compulsory redundancies, but Network Rail are still seeking to make our members poorer when we have won in some cases double what they are offering, with other rail operators.
"The train operating companies remain stubborn and are refusing to make any new offer which deals with job security and pay.
"Strike action is the only course open to us to make both the rail industry and government understand that this dispute will continue for as long as it takes, until we get a negotiated settlement."
Lynch said that RMT members at Network Rail will start their strike at 2am for 24 hours on July 27 and workers at the other train operating companies will start their industrial action from just after midnight on the same day until 23.59pm.
The rejected offer included a 4% pay rise backdated to January along with another 2% rise next year and an additional 2% rise if “modernisation milestones” were achieved.
It is understood that the deal offered more for those paid under £30,000 and that travel discounts and bonuses were also part of the offer.
RMT also said it was yet to receive an offer on pay or guarantees on redundancies from the other train operating companies. It also said that it will liaise with other trade unions that voted to strike with a possibility of coordinated industrial action.
Other unions which could be consulted include the train drivers’ union Aslef, and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) as they both recently voted to back industrial action.
