The RMT union has called off part of its upcoming strikes on the UK railway and announced plans to instead put a new pay offer from infrastructure owner Network Rail to a member vote.
The union’s general secretary Mick Lynch said in a message to members that the RMT had received “an improved offer” from Network Rail.
“The national executive committee has taken the decision to suspend all industrial action to allow . . . a referendum to take place,” Lynch said.
The union had been planning to launch a 24-hour strike among Network Rail members on March 16, and has also cancelled a planned overtime ban to disrupt operations and maintenance on non-strike days.
Network Rail had previously offered a 9 per cent pay rise over two years, tied to major reforms, which the RMT rejected.
The union has been locked in a months-long dispute across the railway industry, and four days of strikes at train operating companies on March 16, 18 and 30 and April 1 are still scheduled to go ahead.
But the decision to consult members at Network Rail raised hopes of a breakthrough to end at least some of the strikes that have hit the network since last summer.
It also represented a significant shift for the RMT’s leadership, which last month called for “unconditional” pay offers from the industry and rejected employers’ insistence that any pay rises needed to be funded by the union signing up to modernised working practices.
Although the changes to the deal were not immediately available, there was no suggestion that the organisation had dropped its significant reform programme.
“We are relieved for our people, passengers and freight customers that industrial action in Network Rail has now been suspended,” Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said.
The potential breakthrough came just days after negotiations in the separate dispute with train operators appeared on the brink of collapse.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, wrote to the RMT on Friday to warn that it would end national negotiations unless the union put its own 9 per cent pay proposal to a member vote.
The RDG said talks would be handed down to the individual train companies involved in the dispute if the union did not ballot members.
On Tuesday, the RMT said it would give updates “on all aspects of the national rail dispute” in the coming days.
The RDG called for new talks “to resolve the dispute” with the RMT.
“The RMT leadership’s decision to put Network Rail’s deal to its membership is a welcome development, but train operating staff will rightly be asking why their union continues to deny them the opportunity to have their say on our equivalent offer,” the RDG said.