RMT calls 24-hour rail strike on May bank holiday

UK rail passengers travelling over the May 25 bank holiday face extensive disruption after the Rail, Maritime and Transport union announced a 24-hour strike by its Network Rail employees.

Action by the workers, including signallers and maintenance staff, is due to start at 5pm on Monday May 25. Staff will also refuse to work overtime on May 25 and Tuesday May 26.

The decision follows an overwhelming vote to reject a four-year pay deal.

Staff were angered by a Network Rail offer of a £500 bonus payment but no pay rise this year. Salaries would then rise in line with inflation until 2019 and a guarantee against job losses would be removed.

The vote on Tuesday, a four-to-one majority on a 60 per cent turnout, beat the government's planned 50 per cent turnout threshold for strike action. Workers also voted, by a 92 per cent margin, for other forms of industrial action.

Under the government's proposed legislation, the bar will be higher still for workers in public services such as health, education, fire and transport. Strikes will require the support of 40 per cent of all those entitled to take part in ballots, as well as a majority of those who actually vote.

Mick Cash, the RMT general secretary, described the offer as "wholly inadequate and fails to recognise the massive pressure staff are working under at a time when the company is generating profits of £1bn".

Network Rail, which has said the unions should not be allowed to "hold the country to ransom", has yet to respond to the strike date announcement.

Passengers on many routes were already facing delays over the bank holiday due to planned engineering works.

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