The “tide is turning” in rail unions when it comes to pay offers on the table, Transport Secretary Mark Harper has claimed.
Members of the RMT rejected the latest offer from Network Rail yesterday by 64%.
The deal would have included a 5% and 4% pay rise over two years, but meant thousands of job losses, a 50% cut in scheduled maintenance tasks and a 30% increase in unsocial hours.
However, Mr Harper said it had more support than previous offers on the table, urging the union to “look at it again, call off the strikes and accept what is a reasonable pay offer”.
Rail workers have staged another walk out today in the first of a raft of strike days in this month, covering 13, 14 and 16 and 17 December.
More strikes are also planned from 6pm on Christmas Eve to 5.59am on 27 December.
The RMT’s general secretary Mick Lynch accused the government of “refusing to lift a finger to prevent these strikes” and pledged his members would “continue their campaign for a square deal for workers, decent pay increases and good working conditions”.
But speaking to Sky News, Mr Harper said the government had “got to be fair to the taxpayer”, adding: “There isn’t a bottomless pit of money to go into the rail industry.”
He insisted the offer made to workers was “very fair and reasonable”, and pointed to the fact bosses of the TSSA union – which represents station staff – had already recommended it to their members.
“Even with the RMT’s very strong recommendation to their members to not accept the offer to turn it down, to reject it out of hand, we still saw nearly 40% of RMT members wanting to accept it,” said the transport secretary.
“So I think the tide is turning on opinion about whether these offers are reasonable or not, and therefore I hope the union will look at it again, call off the strikes and accept what is a reasonable pay offer.”