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| Rail strike on 13 May, day of Eurovision final | Rail strike on 13 May, day of Eurovision final |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Rail workers at 14 train operators will strike on 13 May, on the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final, after the RMT union rejected the latest pay deal. | Rail workers at 14 train operators will strike on 13 May, on the day of the Eurovision Song Contest final, after the RMT union rejected the latest pay deal. |
| The offer was aimed at ending a long-running pay dispute. | The offer was aimed at ending a long-running pay dispute. |
| But the union said accepting the offer would have meant no further strike action could take place. | But the union said accepting the offer would have meant no further strike action could take place. |
| It follows train drivers' union Aslef calling strikes on 12 and 31 May, and on 3 June, the day of the FA Cup Final. | It follows train drivers' union Aslef calling strikes on 12 and 31 May, and on 3 June, the day of the FA Cup Final. |
| There had been ongoing discussions as the union and train firms tried to reach a deal. | There had been ongoing discussions as the union and train firms tried to reach a deal. |
| But RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the train companies, had "reneged on their original proposals and torpedoed these negotiations". | But RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the train companies, had "reneged on their original proposals and torpedoed these negotiations". |
| Previous strikes had been called off when it was clear a new offer from the train firms was on its way. | Previous strikes had been called off when it was clear a new offer from the train firms was on its way. |
| The union had been considering the detail of the RDG's latest proposals. | |
| They involved one year's pay increase that was dependent on the union agreeing to go into a "dispute resolution process" and, the industry would say, accepting the general principle of changes to working practices. | |
| This would be followed by a second year's pay increase dependent on those reforms being negotiated at individual operators. | |
| But the RMT has rejected that because it would not be able to call any more strikes if it accepted the first year's 5% pay increase. | But the RMT has rejected that because it would not be able to call any more strikes if it accepted the first year's 5% pay increase. |
| The union is currently balloting its members for another mandate for strike action lasting a further six months. | |
| There were no train strikes in the diary this morning. Now there are four, some of them falling on the day of major sport and music events. | |
| Any hopes the RMT's dispute with 14 train companies was close to being solved, have now been dashed. It's very much not over - unlike the dispute with Network Rail, which saw signallers and maintenance staff accept a deal in March. | |
| The dispute with the train operators always looked harder to resolve than Network Rail, because of the changes to working conditions involved - the strings attached, from the unions' perspective. | |
| There's more misery for passengers on the way - hitting confidence in railway travel again - and workers will lose more pay. | |
| Train companies' separate dispute with the train drivers' union Aslef has never looked close to a resolution, and today it announced three more strike dates. | |
| But today's announcement from the RMT was a surprise, and makes it hard to see how their dispute goes from here. | |
| The RMT's strikes have less impact than they did when Network Rail was involved too. But right now, it looks like there's still plenty of disruption ahead. | |
| The government has a significant role - it holds the purse strings. It has shown no sign recently of being prepared to allow the train companies to put more money on the table. | |
| The BBC has approached the RDG for comment. Last month the group said it was "focused on working constructively towards a settlement to this dispute". | |
| The last rail strike on 18 March meant only 40% to 50% of trains could run as workers across 14 train operators walked out. | |
| The ongoing dispute has affected services since June last year. |