RMT members vote to end 18 months of train strikes as they accept new pay and conditions deal - but Aslef drivers are still due to start industrial action tomorrow

RMT members have voted overwhelmingly to end 18 months of train strikes and accept a new deal to end their long-running dispute over pay and conditions, the union announced.

The bitter pay dispute involving railway workers over pay and jobs has sparked travel chaos for months, leaving self-employed workers out of pocket and forcing staff to work from home.

But there could still be be travel misery over the festive period, with train drivers’ union, Aslef, refusing to stand down and announcing another round of industrial action, starting this weekend. 

General Secretary Mick Lynch said: 'Our members have spoken in huge numbers to accept this offer and I want to congratulate them on their steadfastness in this long industrial campaign...

'We will be negotiating further with the train operators over reforms they want to see. And we will never shy away from vigorously defending our members terms and conditions, now or in the future.

'This campaign shows that sustained strike action and unity gets results and our members should be proud of the role they have played in securing this deal.'

Earlier in the month, talks between the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and the RMT led to a a so-called memorandum of understanding (MOU), with the aim of settling on a mutually agreed way forward.

That will include a backdated 2022 pay rise for staff and job security guarantees, the RMT said.

According to the BBC, the MOU involves a backdated pay rise for 2022 of five per cent, or £1,750, and job security guarantees such as no compulsory redundancies until the end of 2024.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said the MOU was a 'welcome development'.

In a bitter dispute with 14 English train operators over pay, jobs and working conditions, Aslef union members will be striking over a range over days between 2 to 8 December. 

In order to cause maximum disruption, they will be targeting different parts of this country, much to the frustration of commuters.

Drivers at rail companies operating across the UK will strike for 24 hours on dates between Saturday December 2 and Friday December 8.

There will also be an overtime ban between Friday December 1 and Saturday December 9, which is likely to see last trains leave much earlier than usual for some train operators.

The latest announcement of industrial action comes as a possible retaliation to comments made by the transport secretary, Mark Harper, after he said Aslef should propose an offer to its drivers that was branded as 'risible' by the union in April.

'There is, most people think, a perfectly fair and reasonable offer on the table and I genuinely don't understand why Aslef won't put it to their members,' Mr Harper told MPs at the transport committee on Wednesday November 15.

The union responded by saying that the offer was no longer being considered, effectively meaning it had been rejected in further votes for strikes.