Tens of thousands of rail workers may return to picket lines after their union rejected revised pay offers to avert more walkouts.
The RMT union had been deliberating over a 5% pay rise, backdated to January last year, along with a 4% hike for 2023.
The offer was made by train operators and Network Rail during extensive talks last month.
There have already been 19 days of strike action as part of the row but none over the past month due to hopes that resolutions on the key issues, including job security, were close.
Network Rail said the proposed pay rise was the “best and final offer” to break the deadlocked dispute.
But the RMT said accepting the terms that came with the increase would result in “a severe reduction in scheduled maintenance tasks, making the railways less safe, the closure of all ticket offices and thousands of jobs stripped out of the industry when the railways need more investment not less”.
General secretary Mick Lynch said: “We have carried out an in-depth consultation of our 40,000 members and the message we have received loud and clear is to reject these dreadful offers.
“Our members cannot accept the ripping up of their terms and conditions or to have safety standards on the railway put into jeopardy under the guise of so-called modernisation.”
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Exclusive polling commissioned by Sky News shows public support for trade unions is rising, even though strike action is bringing many public services to a standstill.
The RMT said it will begin to make preparations for a re-ballot when the existing strike mandate runs out in May, meaning walkouts could continue for the rest of the year.
In the meantime, the union said it will seek further meetings with Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group to try to achieve a negotiated settlement.
Strikes will continue ‘for as long as it takes’
Mr Lynch warned: “It is now time for the employers and the government to listen to railway workers in their tens of thousands.
“Our industrial campaign will continue for as long as it takes to get a negotiated settlement that meets our members’ reasonable expectations on jobs, pay and working conditions.”
Ministers have previously been accused by the RMT of “sabotaging” efforts to reach a deal they would accept.
The new offer was put to the union after Transport Secretary Mark Harper gave train operating companies a “revised mandate” to go into negotiations, insisting there had been “big changes” in the government’s approach since he took over the role from Grant Shapps.
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Labour said the remarks showed there had been “a wasted year” under the previous transport secretary, who “refused to engage or even meet with unions” when the strikes began in 2022.
The government argues reform is necessary to pay for the pay rises rail staff want, but anything that involves cuts and threatens job security has been a red line for the RMT.
The RMT, along with other rail worker unions, have staged strikes across the country since June over jobs, pay and conditions.
Rail unions are far from the only sector taking industrial action, with nurses, ambulance workers, teachers, and civil servants among those striking as pay packets are squeezed by soaring inflation.