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Friday 5 Jun 2015

RMT to hold referendum on latest pay offer with a recommendation to accept

Region & Route:

National

RMT members are to be balloted next week on Network Rail’s latest pay offer. Following a meeting today (Friday, 5 June), the RMT’s General Grades Committee said they had decided to refer it to a referendum ballot and will be recommending that members accept the revised offer.

Phil Hufton, Network Rail managing director of Network Operations, said: “After weeks of tough negotiations, we have put a deal on the table that we hope people will find acceptable.

“This deal rewards our people for their hard work and will also enable the company to find different ways of working.  

“We are hopeful for a positive response from our people and look forward to moving forward together to improve railway performance for our customers and passengers.”

The TSSA unionsaid last week that they would undertake a referendum of their members. 

ENDS

 

Notes to editors:

Revised Offer from Network Rail to RMT, TSSA and UNITE

Pay 2015 and 2016

1. Network Rail commits to pay all staff in the bargaining groups a 2% consolidated increase including those on role clarity contracts on their base salary backdated to 1st January 2015.

2. Network Rail will pay all staff in the bargaining groups a consolidated increase equal to the November 2015 RPI (published in December 2015), with effect from 1st January 2016.

3. Network Rail makes clear that funding for pay awards contained in this agreement must be offset through agreed efficiencies.

No Compulsory Redundancies

4. Network Rail guarantees no compulsory redundancies across all members of bargaining groups; operations and customer services bands 5-8 and equivalent, maintenance bands 5-8 and equivalent and controller grades until 31st December 2016.

Job Security

5. Network Rail and the Trades Unions will enter into discussion to agree a comprehensive job security package, which includes:

- Voluntary Severance (VS)

- Extending VS to those not affected but who want to go, via “bumping”

- Publication of a national Network Rail vacancy list

- Re-training

- Relocation

- Trial-period opportunities

6. Final details of the job security package will be agreed by all parties and formally signed and published within six months of this agreement.

Efficiency and Improvement Project

7. Separately, Network Rail and the Trades Unions agree to participate on the basis of joint working in an efficiency and improvement project (under the auspices of ACAS), to deliver savings, covering the following:

- Safe and efficient working practices and processes which identify methods to drive down incidents and accidents

- Examine opportunities to reduce labour-only, agency, sub-contract supplier and consultancy costs

- Joint review to create opportunities in our maintenance, operations and controllers teams to enable enhanced efficiency and improvements.

- Develop a forum between Network Rail and RMT, TSSA and Unite as appropriate, to examine options for reducing waste from the business to enable further efficiencies to be made

- Creating single ‘point care’ teams

- Cross boundary working for response teams within Route for incidents and disruption.

- Develop technology for placing of detonators and PLBs thus releasing staff for other work

- Train and deploy resident signallers to work adjacent mechanical signal boxes on a voluntary basis for an agreed premium

8. The efficiency and improvement project will commence discussions upon acceptance of this offer, with implementation plans to be delivered by 30th November 2015.