(The following article was published by the Associated Press.)
LONDON – Railway conductors in northern England accepted an offer of a 4 percent pay increase Friday, ending a yearlong dispute during which they held 25 days of strikes.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union said it wasreluctantly accepting the offer from management at ArrivaTrains Northern, even though members voted last week to reject it.
Union general-secretary Bob Crow accused Arriva offailing to bargain seriously, but said the union had accepted the offer because “it would be wrong to ask our members to suffer more financial hardship.”
Conductors for the company, which runs train services across northern England, will receive a 4 percent raise plus a lump sum of 250 pounds (US$400).
The union canceled a series of seven one-day strikes due to begin next week.
Conductors at Arriva have walked off the job for a total of25 days since January 2002. Britain’s privatized rail system has been hit by a series of short, localized strikes over pay and safety over the last year.