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How much do rail workers earn? New strikes announced for July

Around 20,000 union members across 14 rail companies will walk out for three days

RMT members protest at Lancaster Gate station about staff shortages

/ RMT

By

23 June 2023

T

he RMT union has announced further strikes in July after negotiations with the Government and rail firms failed.

Around 20,000 union members across 14 rail companies will walk out for three days.

Union general secretary Mick Lynch said that the Government and rail bosses had not “made any attempt whatsoever to arrange any meetings or put forward a decent offer that can help us reach a negotiated solution”.

He said: “The Government continues to shackle the companies and will not allow them to put forward a package that can settle this dispute.”

It follows industrial action by RMT and Aslef members both in and out of London in June.

RMT union members walked out on June 2 with 20,000 catering, train managers, and station staff —marking three rail strikes within four days, as Aslef train drivers walked out on June 3, after strikes on May 31.

Elizabeth Line workers from the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association also walked out earlier this month, for the second time this year on Wednesday, May 24. The day was chosen as it marked the one-year anniversary of the £20 billion network opening.

Transport unions remain locked in pay disputes and are taking action as they are not satisfied with the offers they have received.

But how much do rail workers currently earn?

UK Train & Tube Strike | Tuesday 21 June 2022

1/38UK Train & Tube Strike | Tuesday 21 June 2022

Passengers arrive at Kings Cross Station, London, as train services continue to be disrupted following the nationwide strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union along with London Underground workers in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions

PA

Commuters on the Central Line at Stratford Station

Getty Images

Passengers wait for Stratford station to open in London, as train services continue to be disrupted following the nationwide strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union along with London Underground workers in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions

PA

Traffic on the A1203 near Kings Cross in London, as train services continue to be disrupted following the nationwide strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

PA

People walk on London Bridge, the day after a national rail strike, during six days of travel disruption

REUTERS

Passengers wait for Stratford station to open in London

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Commuters arrive at Stratford Station

Getty Images

People walk on London Bridge in view of The Shard, the day after a national rail strike, during six days of travel disruption

REUTERS

Passengers await their trains to be announced, at a quiet Euston station, in Londo

AP

A group of passengers board a number 87 double-decker bus to Aldwych at a stop outside Clapham Junction station

PA

Supplied

Passengers walk after getting off a train at the Waterloo Station

REUTERS

The picket line outside Bristol Temple Meads station, as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union begin their nationwide strike in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions

PA

Southeastern trains sit in sidings in Ashford, Kent

PA

A passenger rests her head on her luggage as she sits on the station concourse on the first day of a national rail strike at Manchester Piccadilly Station

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People look at the departures board at Victoria Station, in London

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Passengers board a bus outside Victoria Station, in London

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Cyclists ride at Parliament Square on the first day of national rail strike

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Passengers pass a picket line at Liverpool Lime Street Station

AFP via Getty Images

A passenger waits at Great Malvern train station in Worcestershire, as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union begin their nationwide strike in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions

PA

A woman stands outside the closed entrance to the Westminster Undeground Station

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A general view of Waterloo Station, on the first day of national rail strike in London

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Hammersmith

Gareth Richman/Evening Standard

Merseyrail trains lined up on the track at Kirkdale Depot, as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union begin their nationwide strike in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions

PA

A man stands with his bike at the Waterloo Station, on the first day of national rail strike in London

REUTERS

A woman walks her dog into an almost empty London Bridge station in London

AP

Passengers walk after getting off a train at the Waterloo Station

REUTERS

Passengers at Birmingham New Street station, as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union begin their nationwide strike in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions

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Striking sail staff picket outside Cowlairs maintenance depot and signal centre in Glasgow, Scotland

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How much do rail workers earn?

Rail workers — not including train drivers — earn a median salary of £36,800, according to the ONS.

The median salary for rail travel assistants, such as ticket collectors, guards, and information staff, is £33,310.

The median salary for rail construction and maintenance operatives — the people who lay and repair tracks — is £34,998.

Rail transport operatives, such as signallers and drivers’ assistants, earn a median salary of £48,750.

However, the RMT says the median salary for rail workers is closer to £33,000, because the ONS’s figures do not include cleaners’ salaries and around 10,000 RMT members are cleaners.

How much do train drivers earn?

The median salary for train and tram drivers was £59,189 in 2021.

But train drivers are not part of the workers striking, as they are represented by their own union, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef), not the RMT Union.

Around 96 per cent of train drivers in Britain are a part of Aslef, and the other four per cent are not union members.