UK faces first train strike in 20 years

The first national train strike in 20 years has been called after thousands of workers at Network Rail rejected a four-year pay deal.

The RMT union said an "overwhelming majority" of their 16,000 employees voted for a walk out.

Staff are angered by an offer of a £500 bonus payment but no pay rise this year. Salaries would then only rise in line with inflation until 2019. A guarantee against job losses would also be removed.

The result will be closely watched by David Cameron, prime minister, who has pledged to make it more difficult for workers to go on strike.

Sajid Javid, the newly appointed business secretary, said on Tuesday that fresh measures would be included in the Queen's Speech requiring turnout of at least 50 per cent of those entitled to vote for a walkout to go ahead. Employers would also be allowed to hire agency staff to fill gaps left by workers who have gone on strike.

The RMT's vote on Tuesday beat the government's planned threshold with members backing a walkout by 4 to 1 on a turnout of 60 per cent. Workers voted by a bigger margin - 92 per cent - for other forms of industrial action.

Mick Cash, general secretary at the RMT, said: "As far as we are concerned the one-off, non-consolidated, lump-sum payment this year is wholly inadequate and fails to recognise the massive pressures staff are working under to keep services running at a time when the company is generating profits of £1bn. It is our members battling to keep Britain moving around the clock and they deserve a fair share from Network Rail for their incredible efforts."

A second rail union, the TSSA, is announcing the result of a strike ballot of its own 3,000 members on Friday.

Pay has long been a bone of contention in the rail industry because senior executives at the taxpayer funded infrastructure operator are among the best paid in the public sector. At the same time, Network Rail has received repeated criticism for poor performance.

Network Rail says that pay for its staff has risen faster over the past four years than for workers in most other sectors, who have seen wages decline in real terms since 2011.

Although individual train operators have faced strikes over the past two decades, this is the first national strike for more than 20 years. The last dispute, in 1994, involved staff at Network Rail's predecessor, Railtrack. About two-thirds of trains were cancelled over a series of strike days.

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