Railway workers vote for ‘biggest strike in modern history’

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[google-translator]

Railway workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike in a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, the RMT union has announced.

The result was announced within four hours of the ballot of more than 40,000 railway workers closing.

The RMT said: “Railway workers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action across Network Rail and the train operating companies, in the biggest endorsement for industrial action by railway workers since privatisation.”

Of the 71 per cent of those eligible to vote, 89 per cent were in favour of strike action – representing 63 per cent of the workforce balloted, and more than 25,000 workers.

RMT members working for Network Rail and 14 out of 15 of the train operators voted for “strike action and action short of strike”.

The train operators whose RMT members voted to strike include Avanti West Coast, Greater Anglia, GWR, LNER, Northern and South Western Railway.

Staff working for GTR – covering Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern – voted only in favour of “action short of strike”.

The general secretary of the RMT, Mick Lynch, said: “Today’s overwhelming endorsement by railway workers is a vindication of the union’s approach and sends a clear message that members want a decent pay rise, job security and no compulsory redundancies.

“Our NEC [National Executive Committee] will now meet to discuss a timetable for strike action from mid-June, but we sincerely hope ministers will encourage the employers to return to the negotiating table and hammer out a reasonable settlement with the RMT.

The union says it will now be “demanding urgent talks with Network Rail and the 15 train operating companies that were balloted to find a negotiated settlement to the dispute over pay, jobs and safety”.

Transport for Wales and ScotRail were not involved in the RMT ballot – but ScotRail is currently canceiling 700 trains per day as a result of a dispute involving the train drivers’ union, Aslef.

The white-collar rail union, TSSA, is threatening what its general secretary called “a summer of discontent”. Members are being consulted ahead of a possible strike ballot if pay fails to keep pace with inflation – which hit 9 per cent last week.

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