RMT union working with train operators ‘toward revised offer’ after further talks to end strike | Business news

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The RMT union announced that it was working with the train operators “for a revised offer” after further talks to end the strike.

Following today’s negotiations with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), RMT said: “We have had detailed discussions and are jointly working towards a revised offer.

The two sides agreed to continue discussions over the next few days.

An RDG spokesperson said: “We have had detailed discussions and are working jointly on a revised proposal. Both parties have agreed to continue discussions over the next few days.”

After four hours of talks, RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch kept things brief. He said no offer had been made but they were working on it.

“We have had detailed discussions with the train operators’ rail delivery group and are working together on a revised proposal for their dispute section and agreed that over the next couple of days we will continue to work on that through discussions and we will see what happens.”

The discussions took place in Paddington, London, in an attempt to find a settlement in a row over wages, jobs and conditions, which has been going on since the strikes began last summer.

He has started 19 strike days since then, eight of which were spread across December and January.

But the union did not announce other dates for the strike in January.

It is to be hoped that a window of opportunity may have been created by the union which may have decided to allow railway employees to work uninterrupted for a month or two. The strike action came at a financial cost as it was not paid for the days of the strike.

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Just yesterday RMT said, on the Transfer Select Committee, that it “wouldn’t come close” to the offers that were on the table at the time.

Separately, Network Rail, which runs the rail infrastructure, and the train operators are offering far less than their members are entitled to deal with the cost-of-living crisis, Lynch told the panel, after years of wage freezes.

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An offer from the RDG was rejected by the RMT before Christmas, after running the train was offered to the driver only as a condition of the payment offer.

The union has long opposed chauffeur-only trains on grounds of passenger safety and the job loss that this would entail.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper has never denied that his department had a hand in introducing chauffeur-only trains as a condition.

Once RMT’s talks with RDG ended for the day, another union involved in railway disputes, TSSA, entered talks with RDG, which represents 14 train operating companies.

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