BRITAIN’S BIGGEST rail union got rock-solid support from
12,000 Network Rail maintenance members from midday Saturday June 14th
as a two-day strike over harmonisation of terms and conditions got under way.
After voting by a margin of nearly three to one for action,
RMT member did not book on for shifts that commenced between midday tomorrow
(Saturday June 14) and 17:59 on Sunday. Members also did not undertake any
overtime or ‘on-call’ work between 06:00 on Saturday June 14 and 06:00 on
Monday June 16.
“We are expecting rock-solid support from our 12,000 NR
maintenance members, not least because the company has turned a dispute about
harmonisation into an attack on jobs and conditions,” RMT general secretary Bob
Crow said before the strike.
“The weekend’s strike will be a demonstration by our
members that they expect talks about harmonisation to produce proposals about
harmonisation, not ever-longer lists of the conditions the company wants to
destroy.
“After months of fruitless talks the company has finally
let the cat out the bag and is talking about a reduction in numbers of people
employed, and our members have made it clear that they will resist that attack.
“Our members’ hard work and the £400 million in
efficiencies they have already made have allowed Network Rail to report pre-tax
profits of more than £3 billion over the last two years.
“And it is on the back of our members’ hard work that the
top bosses have awarded themselves huge bonuses, yet they are telling us they
can’t afford real harmonisation.
“If
Network Rail wants to settle this dispute it should get around the table and
negotiate a harmonisation package that is acceptable to our members,” Bob Crow
said.
