BRITAIN’S BIGGEST rail union got rock-solid support from 12,000 Network Rail maintenance members from midday Saturday June 14th as a two-day strike over harmonisation of terms and conditions got under way.

After voting by a margin of nearly three to one for action, RMT member did not book on for shifts that commenced between midday tomorrow (Saturday June 14) and 17:59 on Sunday. Members also did not undertake any overtime or ‘on-call’ work between 06:00 on Saturday June 14 and 06:00 on Monday June 16.

“We are expecting rock-solid support from our 12,000 NR maintenance members, not least because the company has turned a dispute about harmonisation into an attack on jobs and conditions,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said before the strike.

“The weekend’s strike will be a demonstration by our members that they expect talks about harmonisation to produce proposals about harmonisation, not ever-longer lists of the conditions the company wants to destroy.

“After months of fruitless talks the company has finally let the cat out the bag and is talking about a reduction in numbers of people employed, and our members have made it clear that they will resist that attack.

“Our members’ hard work and the £400 million in efficiencies they have already made have allowed Network Rail to report pre-tax profits of more than £3 billion over the last two years.

“And it is on the back of our members’ hard work that the top bosses have awarded themselves huge bonuses, yet they are telling us they can't afford real harmonisation.