The RMT union has rejected the latest offers on pay and conditions from Network Rail and the train operating companies, while the smaller TSSA union has said it will put a revised offer from train companies to its members.
Both unions have said they will ballot members for further industrial action.
Network Rail and the rail operators body, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), had offered a 5% pay rise for 2022, with a minimum uplift of £1,750, and a further 4% for this year.
An RMT demonstration in December
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘We have carried out an in-depth consultation of our 40,000 members and the message we have received loud and clear is to reject these dreadful offers.
‘Our members cannot accept the ripping up of their terms and conditions or to have safety standards on the railway put into jeopardy under the guise of so-called modernisation.
‘If our union did accept these offers, we would see a severe reduction in scheduled maintenance tasks, making the railways less safe, the closure of all ticket offices and thousands of jobs stripped out of the industry when the railways need more investment not less.’
The TSSA accepted Network Rail’s offer in December but had not accepted the RDG’s offer as it did not cover management and control staff. It said reps across the country consulted in an online ballot and voted overwhelmingly in favour of putting the offers out to members, albeit without a recommendation as to whether to accept it.
A spokesperson said: ‘Though the offers represent progress on a number of fronts we will continue to ballot for further industrial action as the dispute remains live.’
The RDG and the Government continued to insist that their ‘best and final offer’, which remains lower over two years than the current annual rate of inflation, was ‘fair and reasonable’.
An RDG spokesperson said: ‘Our passengers and many hard-working RMT members will be deeply dismayed that the union leadership has opted to reject our fair proposals without putting out a vote to their full membership in a democratic referendum.’
Transport secretary Mark Harper said: ‘The RMT’s rejection of these best and final offers is a kick in the teeth for passengers across the country and the RMT's own members, who having been ordered to take strike action are now being blocked from having a say on their own future.’
Mr Harper said it was ‘now clear that no realistic offer is ever going to be good enough for the RMT leadership’.
The RMT has repeatedly pointed to settlements with employers where the UK Government is not involved. For example, in December it agreed a deal with Welsh government-owned operator Transport for Wales (TfW) involving a pay rise of between 6.6% and 9.5%, ‘after intense negotiations and no strike action’.
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