Rail strike: How much are rail workers paid and why are the numbers different?

Members of RMT at Network Rail and 13 train operators will strike on June 21, 23 and 25, and subway workers will also strike on June 21 to coincide with the first rail strike threatening widespread travel chaos

Starting tomorrow, the biggest rail strike of modern times will take place.

Members of RMT at Network Rail and 13 rail operators will strike on June 21st, 23rd and 25th.

Subway workers will strike on June 21, coinciding with the first rail strike threatening widespread travel chaos.

At least 40,000 Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members are believed to be leaving the union after talks between Network Rail, rail operators and the London Underground broke down.

The RMT said members were striking over job cuts and below-inflation wage increases, with the Government cutting funding for National Rail and Transport for London.

Secretary-General Mick Lynch said: “Despite the best efforts of our negotiators, no viable solutions to the disputes have been created.”

However, reported salary figures vary significantly.

While the debate has centered on train drivers’ salaries, the strike is about the pay of railway workers in all other functions across the country.

How much are drivers paid?

In Parliament on June 15, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps responded to a suggestion by Jeremy Corbyn that pay was inadequate, saying the average salary for a train driver was £59,000 compared with £31,000 for a nurse.

This means that if all train drivers were ranked by salary, the person in the middle would represent the median salary.

For 2021, the median was £59,189 for train and tram drivers and £31,093 for nurses, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

The difficulty with using this figure for train drivers in relation to strikes is that drivers are represented by their own union, Aslef – which represents 96% of drivers in England, Scotland and Wales.

The wage strikes affect more roles than just drivers.

Aslef will not take part in the national strike but is running its own strike at the same time with Greater Anglia drivers going on strike on 23 June.

A strike at Hull Trains planned for June 26 was called off.

Aslef also votes for measures on other lines.

What about the salary for railroad workers?

In the same June 15 debate, Mr Shapps said: “The average salary for the railway sector is £44,000, which is well above the average salary in the country.”

The Department for Transport said they arrived at the number by adding up median values ​​of ONS for categories of workers and then dividing by four.

The four categories include train driver assistants, rail construction and maintenance workers, rail transport workers, and train and tram drivers.

ONS figures show that rail travel assistants, which include ticket collectors, security guards and information staff, make an average salary of £33,310.

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Trackwork and maintenance workers who lay and repair the track earn an average salary of £34,998.

Rail transport workers, which include signallers and driver assistants, have an average salary of £48,750.

While train and tram drivers have an average salary of £59,189.

When this is added and divided by four, the figure is £44,061.

However, based on ONS figures There is a fifth category – the rail and following bearing builders.

They build and repair engines and wagons and have an average salary of £46,753.

The median wage for railway workers is above the median wage for all employees in the UK, which was £25,971 in 2021 last year.

What does the RMT Union say?

The RMT union says the figures used by the government are overestimated because they include train drivers – who are mostly represented by another union.

In addition, it adds that the figures do not include other workers, such as station cleaners, who are not categorized as railway workers in official figures.

RMT says if you take the £44,000 figure and exclude the drivers and include the cleaning staff the average salary is £33,000.

It is said that this figure better reflects the average pay of the strikers.

When the BBC Using the same numbers and no driver, they got a figure of £37,500.