Members of the RMT union have voted to accept a pay offer from Network Rail.
Thousands of rail workers including signalling staff voted by three to one in favour to accept the offer, a 9% pay increase over two years, in a referendum that closed on Monday, meaning they will not take part in any more strikes in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions.
RMT general secretary Mike Lynch said the offer had not been as high as he would have liked, but members had voted decisively to accept the deal.
“We’re not pretending this is an overwhelming victory,” he said. “We’re not celebrating the outcome, but we do accept our members’ verdict that they have said ‘this is enough’.”
UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said: “This is encouraging news for hospitality businesses, who may dare to hope that their role as collateral damage in this dispute could be coming to an end.
“There’s plenty still to be done, of course, with ongoing negotiations between other employee groups, but I hope that this agreement paves the way for rail and tube strikes to end completely.
“Venues across the country have so far incurred lost sales upwards of £3 billion and would have struggled immensely to deal with that level of ongoing disruption. I would encourage everyone involved to continue their urgent negotiations and bring to an end strikes that have heaped misery on businesses, consumers and workers for almost a year.”
