A
wide
gap
still
appears
to
exist
between
rail
unions
and
management,
which
was
revealed
when
both
sides
gave
evidence
to
the
House
of
Commons
Transport
Committee.
Tim
Shoveller,
who
has
been
leading
the
negotiations
for
Network
Rail,
said
fewer
RMT
members
have
been
supporting
the
most
recent
strikes.
‘The
strikes
have
been
underway
now
for
a
very
long
period
of
time,
but
we
have
absolutely
seen
in
the
last
sets
of
strikes,
just
before
and
then
especially
after
Christmas,
that
there
has
been
a
return
to
work
by
a
number
of
employees,
both
in
maintenance
and
operations.
It’s
very
localised;
it
tends
to
be
groups
of
people
which
will
come
back
in,
rather
than
individuals
on
their
own,
but
there
is
clearly
a
pattern
we
can
see
emerging,’
he
said.
He
told
the
Committee
that
the
chances
of
a
settlement
with
the
RMT
were
‘seven
out
of
ten’,
but
earlier
in
the
session
ASLEF
general
secretary
Mick
Whelan
had
said
that
there
was
currently
a
‘zero
chance’
of
coming
to
an
agreement
with
the
train
operators
over
drivers.
The
unions
accused
the
government
of
‘sabotaging’
negotiations,
and
warned
that
their
members
would
not
agree
to
a
settlement
which
combined
changes
to
their
conditions
of
employment
with
effective
cuts
in
pay
when
inflation
was
taken
into
account.
RMT
general
secretary
Mick
Lynch
said:
‘I
want
a
green
railway
which
is
at
the
centre
of
a
green
revolution,
that
we
decarbonise
and
deliver
Kyoto,
Oaris
and
whatever.
What
we
are
currently
seeing,
unfortunately,
isn’t
modernisation
–
it’s
a
pure
productivity
grab
of
a
wish
list
of
all
the
things
that
various
companies
could
not
achieve
in
the
last
two
and
a
half
decades.’
Rail
Delivery
Group
chair
Steve
Montgomery
said:
‘We
have
to
put
proposals
forward
to
government
using
our
expertise
in
areas
of
reform,
that
we
can
then
put
forward
as
a
sensible
proposal
which
government
ultimately
does
sign
off,
to
give
us
the
mandate.’
The
Rail
Delivery
Group
is
holding
further
discussions
with
the
RMT
and
TSSA
today,
and
the
RMT
will
also
be
talking
to
Network
Rail
next
week.
