Forum Brief: Rail strike

Passengers are facing the first national rail strike for a decade after signal workers and maintenance staff voted for stoppages in a dispute over pay and pensions.

Government Response: Department for Transport

Transport secretary Alistair Darling said: "At a time when improvements are starting to come through on the railway and passenger confidence is improving, the last thing passengers need is a strike. 

"It would cause massive inconvenience and needless disruption to the travelling public. Every industrial dispute is settled by talks and that is what should happen now."

 

Forum Response: Transport and Salaried Staffs Association

TSSA general secretary Gerry Doherty said: "Like RMT, TSSA and its members are extremly concerned about the future of pensions provision at Network Rail and we have been forced down the route of balloting for industrial action. Network Rail has failed to understand how unhappy our members are with their decision to close a good pension scheme to new blood.

"The company's macho approach to the negotiations have meant that it has even rebuffed our offer to go to arbitration to settle this dispute and is ignoring employees' views completely.

"Rail unions have a responsibility to protect pensions within the rail industry for future generations of rail workers. TSSA is not going to stand back and see those pensions eroded without a fight.

"It is ludicrous that, whilst the government introduces legislation to encourage employers to provide good quality pensions and individuals to save more effectively for their retirement, Network Rail, funded by public money, is closing a final salary scheme which does both."

Forum Response: Association of Train Operating Companies

George Muir, director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies said: "Any RMT strike action will be bad news for millions of rail passengers who will be severely inconvenienced and bad news for the country and economy.  

 

"A strike will be deeply unpopular but in the event of one, we will work with Network Rail to see what train services can be run.  We assure passengers that trains will only be run if it is absolutely safe to do so."