Railway workers win pay rises and no redundancy deal with threat of action

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has announced that maintenance workers at Network Rail overwhelmingly endorsed a reorganisation of their work after management agreed it would include a seven per cent pay rise by the end of 2011.
The package, which will also deliver a £2,000 lump sum before Christmas and rules out compulsory redundancies, was accepted by a margin of around four to one after being recommended to members by the union.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "Our negotiators were backed by a solid strike mandate, and at a time when working people have been told to shut up and take pay freezes our members have shown that if you stand together you can win.”
The 12,000 maintenance workers voted 77 percent in favour of strike action in a ballot earlier this year.
COMMENT:
Industrial action - or the threat of it - is the only langauage bosses understand.
Union reps and members in negotiations all over the country can use this example to boost workers' confidence.