RMT Talks

[Moonshot]

I would have thought that RMT would have got same offer as ASLEF have.....so it seems a little odd that no actual announcement has been made

 

[Marcel7179]

Ahoy , How long would take for RMT to come out with the offer ? Do we have to wait until Xmas again ?

 

[nanstallon]

The unions have tasted blood - get ready for more disruption and/or another government cave-in.

 

[Donny Dave]

The unions have tasted blood - get ready for more disruption and/or another government cave-in.

I don't see it that way, or are railway employees not deserving of a oay rise in your opinion?

 

[scrapy]

Usually the RMT ask for extra for lower paid workers. (2022 deal was 5% or £1750 whatever was greatest). I'm wondering whether they wanted what ASLEF were offered plus a better deal for the lowest paid. That may be a sticking point that the DFT have to consider. (Purely speculation)

 

[Batman99]

Does anyone have any idea how long we will wait for a written response to Rmt

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Aug 2024 ==

Surly the DFT will sort the TOCS out before going into a meeting with Network Rail??

 

[KM1991]

Usually the RMT ask for extra for lower paid workers. (2022 deal was 5% or £1750 whatever was greatest). I'm wondering whether they wanted what ASLEF were offered plus a better deal for the lowest paid. That may be a sticking point that the DFT have to consider. (Purely speculation)

Yeah, I did think that too.

A minimum uplift for the lowest earners has been a key point in all recent pay deals for a while now.

 

[stottyuk]

The £1,750 minimum uplift surely cannot continue, great though it has been for me personally during the last couple of pay deals, but it resulted in an approx. 11% pay rise and catching up to higher grade salaries. See what happens

 

[KM1991]

The £1,750 minimum uplift surely cannot continue, great though it has been for me personally during the last couple of pay deals, but it resulted in an approx. 11% pay rise and catching up to higher grade salaries. See what happens

How is it catching up to higher grade salaries? Everyone earning £35,000 or under received the same amount, anyone earning over that would have got more than £1750 through their 5% increase.

As I said, RMT have been using minimum uplifts for a while now through multiple pay deals. 4.75% + 4.5% wouldn’t be a great deal for the lowest earners IMO. Inflation was over 10% alone last April!

 

[stottyuk]

How is it catching up to higher grade salaries? Everyone earning £35,000 or under received the same amount, anyone earning over that would have got more than £1750 through their 5% increase.

As I said, RMT have been using minimum uplifts for a while now through multiple pay deals. 4.75% + 4.5% wouldn’t be a great deal for the lowest earners IMO. Inflation was over 10% alone last April!

My apologies, I thought it was £25,000 for some reason. It is a great deal should it happen again

 

[KM1991]

Update:

Our Ref: BR2/15/4



23rd August 2024



Dear RMT Member



PAY UPDATE - TRAIN OPERATING COMPANIES



Your RMT negotiating team have been in constant dialogue with senior DfT officials to discuss pay for our members in the train driver and all other grades bargaining groups within the Train Operating Companies.



The Union are still awaiting proposals from the Department for Transport. Your RMT negotiating team are applying constant pressure on the DfT and are routinely asking the DfT to provide a set of pay proposals that can be placed before your National Executive Committee.



Whilst I appreciate that this delay is frustrating, I will continue to keep members advised. Members should also be aware, that communication relating to this matter will firstly come from the official RMT text and email account and not via social media platforms.



I will update you on all further developments as soon as the Union has received any documentation and once the NEC has considered the proposals.



Yours sincerely



Michael Lynch

General Secretary

 

[Towers]

That doesn’t have the ring of being a positive communication. RMT holding back for now but the tone does sound to be changing.

 

[Railwayowl80]

Your RMT negotiating team are applying constant pressure on the DfT and are routinely asking the DfT to provide a set of pay proposals that can be placed before your National Executive Committee.
This bit doesn’t fill me with much confidence

 

[ainsworth74]

Yeah that's a less encouraging update than I'd been hoping for...

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Give it another week and then negotiations 'in good faith' may not be so.

 

[skyhigh]

While it's not directly to do with the main RMT talks, Northern have submitted a stopgap proposal to RMT to change Sunday working arrangements for Conductors.

Essentially under the proposed offer all favourable conditions regarding Sunday working would be removed in return for the same rate of pay and a £75 booking on bonus. Unsurprisingly it has gone down like a lead balloon.

 

[GardenRail]

Network Rail talks on Thursday.

Well, that didn't happen. Network Rail cancelled at the last minute!

 

[ValentaFan1974]

I can see a ballot for strike action/Action short being issued within the next week if things don’t move sharpish…

 

[Hugo3000]

I can see a ballot for strike action/Action short being issued within the next week if things don’t move sharpish…

Rightly so. It's simply unacceptable to give ASLEF an offer and not RMT.

 

[CFRAIL]

I can see a ballot for strike action/Action short being issued within the next week if things don’t move sharpish…

Me too. Colleagues I've spoken with fully expect to take action if the percentages offered aren't the same as ASLEF. And given it's rumoured the PM will give a speech on Tuesday outlining how bad the outlook is, it's possible an acceptable offer won't be forthcoming

 

[GardenRail]

I can see a ballot for strike action/Action short being issued within the next week if things don’t move sharpish…

Hopefully. Gone on long enough.

 

[swrcommguard]

Mixed feelings about the wording of the latest announcements. It doesn't sound very positive or encouraging. But on the other hand in my experience the RMT is usually very cautious until they have something in black and white and written down.

 

[Toby268]

Mixed feelings about the wording of the latest announcements. It doesn't sound very positive or encouraging. But on the other hand in my experience the RMT is usually very cautious until they have something in black and white and written down.

I’m guessing they were told they’d have proposals by a certain day and it’s never materialised. I’m hoping this isn’t the same tactics used by the previous govt being used again.

 

[Towers]

I’m guessing they were told they’d have proposals by a certain day and it’s never materialised. I’m hoping this isn’t the same tactics used by the previous govt being used again.

It would surely look pretty poor if Labour sorted out a deal with Aslef pretty much as soon as they’d stepped through the door of Number 10, only to then invite another round of strikes from the RMT and leave the railway still in disarray.

Given the flack that Starmer attracted for the Aslef deal it would make far more sense to get the RMT sorted as well and at least take the credit for getting the railways running smoothly again (on the union front at least!) and show some cohesive benefit. It also prevents more strikes from overshadowing any desired positive headlines regarding the big “renationalisation” project.

I cannot see any benefit to Labour at all at this point to start messsing the RMT about.

 

[Toby268]

It would surely look pretty poor if the Labour sorted out a deal with Aslef pretty much as soon as they’d stepped through the door of Number 10, only to then invite another round of strikes from the RMT leaving the railway still in disarray! Given the flack that Starmer attracted for the Aslef deal it would make far more sense to get the RMT sorted as well and at least have the railways running smoothly again (on the union front at least!) and show some cohesive benefit! It also prevents more strikes from overshadowing any desired positive headlines regarding the big “renationalisation” project.

I cannot see any benefit to Labour at all at this point to start messsing the RMT about. Let’s hope Kier sees the same thing!

Here’s hoping, but there’s definitely been a tone shift over the last few days. Hopefully it’s just finalising some sort of deal, but the talks for network rail colleagues being cancelled last minute is indicative of a potential change of direction.

 

[swrcommguard]

Here’s hoping, but there’s definitely been a tone shift over the last few days. Hopefully it’s just finalising some sort of deal, but the talks for network rail colleagues being cancelled last minute is indicative of a potential change of direction.

My cynical side worries that the delay is because, unlike the drivers, the DfT maybe keen on attaching some strings to our offer.

I would hope that anything less than parity with the drivers on the % size of the pay increase with no strings would be met with a ballot for strike action.

 

[Towers]

Here’s hoping, but there’s definitely been a tone shift over the last few days. Hopefully it’s just finalising some sort of deal, but the talks for network rail colleagues being cancelled last minute is indicative of a potential change of direction.

Although was it not NR who cancelled? Or am I misreading the post above?

 

[BurningFeetMan]

I suspect the delay may be partially due to ironing out minimum pay rise threshold, something that didn't apply to the drivers rise.

As has been mentioned several times, it would create a great deal of bad feeling by agreeing drivers rise then messing the rest about.

 

[KM1991]

I suspect the delay may be partially due to ironing out minimum pay rise threshold, something that didn't apply to the drivers rise.

As has been mentioned several times, it would create a great deal of bad feeling by agreeing drivers rise then messing the rest about.

I think that can be the only reason for the delay to be honest.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Ahoy , How long would take for RMT to come out with the offer ? Do we have to wait until Xmas again ?

Thank you for your post and welcome to the forum. Your first post.