By Guy Taylor
The RMT has announced fresh strike action this afternoon, with members working for 14 train companies in the national rail dispute set to walk out on Friday 2 June.
The union said it found the Rail Delivery Group (RDG)’s previous offer and associated conditions “unacceptable”.
Some 20,000 railway workers in catering, train managers and station staff will all walk out on the Friday, the day before the FA cup final, hitting train services across the country.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The government is once again not allowing the Rail Delivery Group to make an improved offer that we can consider.”
“Therefore, we have to pursue our industrial campaign to win a negotiated settlement on jobs, pay and conditions.”
It comes after the RMT and ASLEF unions announced a series of strike dates at the end of April, which hit the Eurovision final and are set to coincide with the FA cup final on the 3 June, shutting down almost all trains on the days affected.
Lynch added that ministers cannot “wish” the dispute away. “They underestimate the strength of feeling our members who have just given us a new six-month strike mandate, continue to support the campaign and the action and are determined to see this through until we get an acceptable resolution.”
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said:“In recent discussions with the RMT we have continued to stand by the fair, industry level dispute resolution proposal agreed line by line with their negotiating team, which would have resolved this dispute and given our lowest paid staff a rise of up to 13 per cent.”
“By calling more strike action, the RMT leadership have chosen to prolong this dispute without ever giving their members a chance to have a say on their own offer.
“Instead, they will be subject to yet more lost pay through industrial action, customers will suffer more disruption, and the industry will continue to suffer huge damage at a time when the railway is taking more than its fair share from taxpayers to keep trains running post-Covid.”
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