Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Members of the RMT union have voted to accept a pay deal and end almost 18 months of strikes across the UK rail network.
The country’s largest transport union on Thursday said its members had “spoken in huge numbers” to accept the offer.
The agreement represents a big breakthrough in the lengthy dispute between unions and the government and rail operators that first erupted in the summer last year.
RMT members accepted an offer of a backdated pay rise of 5 per cent for the 2022-2023 financial year, plus job security guarantees, with no changes to working conditions.
Local strikes remain possible, but the RMT’s mandate for sweeping national strikes is over.
Passengers will still face disruption on the rail network in the coming days, however, as the union representing Britain’s train drivers begins a new set of walkouts, with no sign of a deal to end that dispute in sight.
