Earlier this month LU announced an offer which is said would see “most” workers receive a four per cent pay rise from April 2011 with a rise of inflation plus 0.25 per cent in each of the subsequent four years.
Howard Collins, LU Chief Operating Officer, described the deal as “very fair and affordable” and said it would “see staff gain real-terms pay increases and stability over the coming years.”
Today the RMT has rejected the offer and said it would push for “a substantial, above-inflation one year deal that reflects the additional workload placed on staff as a result of the repeated breakdown in services, a large increase in passenger numbers and the knock on effect from a programme of staff reductions.”
General Secretary Bob Crow said the offer ” takes no account at all of the fact that LU is carrying record numbers of passengers, charging inflation-busting fares, cutting staff and thus increasing productivity by the back door.”
Aslef and the TSSA union have already signalled they would reject the offer.
In a statement issued on April 15th TSSA assistant general secretary Manuel Corte said: “Boris’s offer in the first year at 4% does not help our members stay ahead in the cost of living race, regardless of what he is offering down the line.”
Trevor says
The RMT bully argues inflation busting fares are a reason for an above inflation pay rise. Maybe if train drivers weren’t paid so much train fares wouldn’t be as high – above inflation pay rises can only lead to above inflation fare rises. It’s not as if the RMT accepts cutting the number of staff, even though the percentage of tickets bought through automated tellers have increased significantly. I’d love to see a petition for Londoners to sign, “I the undersigned agree to put up with an intermittent tube service rather than continue to give in to unsustainable RMT demands that cause Londoners to pay sky high tube fares”.