Rail workers’ unions are warning there will be strike ballots across the network this summer unless progress is made to protect employee pensions.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association have written to all rail employers, urging them to keep schemes open and cap employee contributions at 10.5% among other things.
They have given employers 10 days to meet their demands.
The unions claim many of the schemes for rail workers are in deficit and are calling on employers to keep their schemes open and cap staff contributions.
Before rail privatisation, there was one pension scheme for British Rail workers.
Now there are more than 100 pension arrangements, involving at least 60 companies, including all the train operating companies and the engineering firms that maintain the railways.
The unions have previously claimed that the pensions deficit was as much as £600m and that some workers could see their contributions double without an agreement with employers.
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