FORGET A 7% RISE, STRIKERS WARNED

ANOTHER DAY OF CHAOS FOR COMMUTERS. UNIONS AND BOSSES IN WAR OF WORDS

- Nicholas Cecil and John Dunne

RAIL workers across Britain were today told it was "very unlikely" that they will get a seven per cent pay boost despite such a deal being agreed on Merseyside.

As tens of thousands of staff staged a second day of strike action, commuters spoke of their frustration and said it was like "Groundhog Day".

Fresh talks were due to take place today between union bosses, led by Mick Lynch, pictured, and rail chiefs but they fired off a volley of exchanges in an early morning war of words. Hopes among rail workers across the country of a seven per cent wage increase were fuelled after the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association reached a 7.1 per cent pay rise deal with Merseyrail.

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes claimed it was a sensible outcome to a reasonable offer which goes a long way towards keeping pace with the escalating cost of living".

However, Network Rail, where 40,000 workers were taking industrial action, said such a pay rise would require £65 million of cost-efficiency improvements. Pressed on whether Network Rail would eventually have to agree to a 7.1 per cent agreement, its chief negotiator, Tim Shoveller, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "That is very unlikely. We currently have an offer that totals three per cent on the table and we are keen to improve on that... but that is subject to affordability"

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union's starting point for the talks has been a pay rise of around seven per cent.