RMT agrees pay deal for maintenance workers

Maintenance workers at Network Rail are to get a "no-strings" pay deal that will deliver 0.75% above inflation.

The 14,000 maintenance members of the RMT rail union will receive the February 2005 Retail Price Index plus 0.75%, subject to a minimum of 3% and a maximum of 4%. This is the same as the award that the company's operational grades (including signalling staff) are getting in the second year of their already agreed two-year deal.

The RMT executive accepted the deal on its members' behalf earlier this month, following consultations with its Network Rail reps around the country.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the deal - which will be effective from 1 April - "gives our members an ahead-of-inflation pay rise with no strings attached, and is amongst the best recent settlements."

But he added that the union would be seeking further improvements in its members' conditions at the company over the coming year, particularly "further progress towards equality of travel concessions for new and long-standing employees, and a reduction in the qualification for joining the re-opened final-salary pension scheme from five years to day one".

The deal will cover all of Network Rail's maintenance workers except former employees of First Engineering, who are covered by a separate three-year agreement.

Network Rail welcomed the RMT's acceptance of the pay offer, saying that it could now focus on building a world-class maintenance organisation.