A national strike by thousands of rail maintenance workers came a step closer yesterday when union leaders urged rejection of a four-year pay proposal starting with a year’s pay freeze.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has been negotiating with Network Rail, the government-owned company responsible for operating and maintaining Britain’s rail network.

Proposals include issuing of railcards to employees to reduce travel costs rather than the free travel sought by RMT.

The one-year pay freeze would be followed by three years of inflation-linked increases.

RMT is also concerned that while Network Rail has guaranteed no compulsory redundancies for a year, there is no guarantee after that.

The union has called for rejection of the deal in a referendum running until March 24, which would trigger a national ballot on strike action.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash condemned the one-year pay freeze as a wage cut.

“The travel offer we have received is nothing more than a card that can be purchased by any member of the travelling public, falling well short of our demand of free travel for all,” he said.

“In addition, we are extremely concerned that the ‘no compulsory redundancy’ commitment only applies to the first year of the four-year deal.

“RMT is in no doubt that this leaves operations and maintenance members extremely vulnerable, especially with the continued development of rail operating centres and the ongoing cuts programme at Network Rail.”

He said RMT was available for talks.

Network Rail said it was “a good and fair offer” linked to inflation, giving workers certainty and keeping their pay highly competitive.