Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Times and FT tomorrow reporting that NR and operators are preparing contingency plans to deal with a national strike should RMT vote for industrial action over the proposed NR maintenance staffing cutbacks and pay & conditions at TOCs.
12 hour working will be as a result of signallers taking industrial action. Also goes on to say that keeping freight moving will be the higher priority so if your on freight route you might get a train service unless the operators staff is taking action as well.
Ballot close next Tuesday so result should be known middle of week.
FT goes on say
Open access operators aren't being balloted.
Rail executives are drafting emergency plans to cut Britain’s train network to a 12-hour service ahead of union members voting this week on what would be the biggest rail strike to hit the country in 30 years
12 hour working will be as a result of signallers taking industrial action. Also goes on to say that keeping freight moving will be the higher priority so if your on freight route you might get a train service unless the operators staff is taking action as well.
Ballot close next Tuesday so result should be known middle of week.
FT goes on say
DfT are in danger are being too optimistic here although its not clear whether the thresholds apply to each individual organisation or aggregate of all those voting.Still, ministers believe that the ballot could fail to reach the requisite thresholds of 50 per cent turnout and 40 per cent approval from the entire electorate. Out of 49 RMT ballots in 2020, 15 failed to meet both thresholds, which were made a legal requirement for industrial action in 2016. “This is not a super-militant membership,” said one official.
Ministers also believe that the impact of a mass RMT strike could be limited by the fact that people are now more used to working from home.
Open access operators aren't being balloted.