A minister has warned that the pay deal rejected by the RMT rail union on Friday is the government’s final offer.
Transport minister Richard Holden said he hoped the unions would “think again” but couldn’t rule out the possibility that the industrial action would continue until the autumn.
“This is the final offer from the government,” said Mr Holden. “We have done everything we can to facilitate talks. I think nobody could criticise Mark Harper (Transport Secretary) or Huw Merriman (Rail Minister) after the work that they’ve done and this is the final offer from the government.”
Rejecting the offer on Friday, RMT boss Mick Lynch branded the deal - which would have meant a 5 per cent pay rise for rail workers now backdated to last year and a 4 per cent pay rise for this year - “dreadful”.
The rejection was made following a meeting of RMT’s national executive committee but Mr Holden said he wanted the proposal to be put to members.
Asked on Times Radio if the rejection meant strikes would continue until October, Mr Holden replied: “I hope not. I hope the unions think again, I hope the RMT members put pressure on the union executive to say that they don’t want to keep going like this.
“I hope that the RMT leadership actually ballot their members and see if this is what they want to keep doing.”
RMT has rejected the latest offers from both Network Rail and the train operating companies.
The union said it was rejecting the offers because “they do not meet members expectations on pay, job security or working conditions”.
It is calling for an unconditional pay offer, a job security agreement and “no detrimental changes being imposed on members terms, conditions and working practices”.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “We have carried out an in-depth consultation of our 40,000 members and the message we have received loud and clear is to reject these dreadful offers.
“Our members cannot accept the ripping up of their terms and conditions or to have safety standards on the railway put into jeopardy under the guise of so-called modernisation.”
The union said it believes Network Rail’s plans for maintenance were unsafe, unhealthy for staff and unworkable which is rejected by Network Rail.
The RMT says it is seeking further meetings to try and reach a negoiated settlement, but will start preparing to re-ballot members when its existing strike mandate expires in late May.
Both Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operating companies, have offered a pay deal worth 9 per cent over two years.
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: “Our passengers and many hard-working RMT members will be deeply dismayed that the union leadership has opted to reject our fair proposals without putting out a vote to their full membership in a democratic referendum.
“Having listened to the union’s concerns during recent negotiations, we went back to the table with substantial changes to give colleagues a minimum pay increase of at least 9% over two years – rising to over 13% for the lowest paid – which they will now miss out on without even having had an opportunity to have their say.
