RMT and BECTU secure recognition victories

The RMT rail union has won recognition for 250 members at rail infrastructure firm GrantRail following a lengthy dispute.

The company – the only firm in the industry not to recognise the RMT – had claimed that its existing arrangements with the GMB and Community unions were sufficient.

But a 24-hour strike by members of the RMT, which says it represents the majority of the GrantRail workforce, resulted in a deal.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that a “productive relationship” had been developed at the negotiating table, and hoped that this could be built on “in order to achieve much-needed improvements to our members’ pay and conditions”.

The entertainment union BECTU has also secured recognition at the Stage, Technical and Stage Door areas of the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, after a campaign and a test of membership levels carried out by the conciliation service ACAS.

BECTU supervisory official Willy Donaghy said the local and national reps involved looked forward to “developing best practice in the workplace within the collective agreement to be negotiated”.