Rail strike talks have yet to tackle pay, RMT’s Mick Lynch says
Talks to resolve the rail dispute have yet to start discussing pay, according to union leader Mick Lynch, dampening hopes of a breakthrough before more strikes are called.
The RMT’s general secretary said the union was still negotiating to avoid redundancies and cuts to maintenance work before they would tackle pay.
Speaking to MPs on the Commons transport select committee on Wednesday, Lynch said the only offer the RMT had received – of 8% over two years, with inflation currently at about 10% – was something Network Rail “knew was not going to fly”.
He said industry proposals to change working conditions would “sink without trace” if the union had put them to a referendum of staff, as the industry and some MPs urged.
Earlier, Network Rail’s lead negotiator, Tim Shoveller, told the committee that he was “continually hopeful” for an agreement, and that there had been a “slight change” in talks held this week, with “conversations that we have not had for a while”.
On the first two Saturdays of last month, about 40,000 RMT members across Network Rail and 15 train operating companies held the latest in a series of strikes.
Lynch said train companies did not lose money during strikes, only the staff, as they were protected by the Department for Transport contracts.
Grilled by MPs over whether the union was resisting change, Lynch said: “The railway does need fundamental change, but it’s not the one that the railway companies are seeking.
“We need a railway that runs in the interests of the people and the interests of the economy and the environment not in the interests of First Group and others,” he said, referring to the owners of Avanti West Coast.
“We need fundamental change – but we don’t need to attack the staff.”
While Lynch
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