DRIVERS BALLOTED OVER PAY AT ARRIVA TRAINS WALES

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: november/december 2010 :: RMTnews 5 R MT is urging drivers on Arriva Trains Wales to vote for strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute over pay. Negotiations with Arriva Trains Wales have ground to a halt with a derisory offer from the company being rejected by RMT members. As a result RMT has no option but to begin balloting for action with the ballot closing on the November 30. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said RMT had totally rejected a contemptuous pay offer from the company that would have left members out of pocket and which was loaded with strings. Members would have ended up with inferior working conditions for a de facto pay cut. “Arriva Trains Wales has shown us in the clearest possible terms that they have no wish to reward the hard work and loyalty to the staff and are motivated solely by the drive for bigger profits to line the pockets of the shareholders and that is why we are now balloting for industrial action. “RMT is making it clear that this stale mate on pay at Arriva Trains Wales can no longer be tolerated. Without the hard work of our members there would be no company profits and it’s high time that Arriva Trains Wales recognised that. “We are calling on our members for an overwhelming ‘YES’ vote for industrial action and industrial action short of a strike that will force Arriva Trains Wales management to get back round the table and put forward a decent pay rise, without strings, that properly rewards their staff.” R MT maintenance members at Network Rail have overwhelmingly endorsed a reorganisation deal that, twinned with an already agreed pay deal, will deliver a seven per cent pay rise by the end of 2011. The package, which will also deliver a £2,000 lump sum before Christmas and rules out compulsory redundancies, was endorsed by a margin of around four to one after being recommended to members by the union. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that members had endorsed a deal that would bring a substantial real-terms pay increase after standing solidly together during a lengthy and sometimes difficult process. “Our negotiators were backed by a solid strike mandate, and at a time when working people have been told to shut up and take pay freezes our members have shown that if you stand together you can win,” he said. R MT is balloting members on Merseyrail, excluding guards and drivers, for strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute over pay. Pay negotiations with Merseyrail for the grades affected have been on-going and have ended with two derisory offers being rejected by RMT members As a result of the total failure of Merseyrail to put forward serious proposals that protect the living standards of staff, RMT had no option but to begin balloting for action, and the union is campaigning for a massive yes vote. RMT members at First Great Westerns Long Rock Maintenance Depot in Penzance are taking industrial action in support of their colleague Kane Jones following his unfair dismissal. Following a massive ballot result in favour of supporting Kane Jones, RMT members took one hour strike action and began an overtime ban. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that Kane Jones was dismissed for wholly unfair reasons. “RMT has informed First Great Western that we remain available for talks and we hope that management will now see sense and take the necessary steps to resolve this dispute,” he said. DRIVERS BALLOTED OVER PAY AT ARRIVA TRAINS WALES RMT MEMBERS AT NETWORK RAIL ENDORSE REORGANISATION DEAL WORKERS DEFEND SACKED FIRST GREAT WESTERN MEMBER RMT BALLOTS MERSEYRAIL MEMBERS FOR INDUSTRIAL ACTION