Demanding the return of the railways and other privatised indutstries to public ownership; opposing further privatisations
New research shows that privatisation has dumped UK railways at the bottom of the league with worse to come under McNulty rail review
RAIL UNION RMT warned today that the Government could be preparing an action replay of the Thameslink stitch-up of Bombardier over the Crossrail contract as it emerged that Transport Secretary Justine Greening has sabotaged a plan that would have potentially saved train building in the nation that gave the railways to the world.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: “Despite the long public row over the Thameslink stitch- up, and the threat to over 10,000 jobs at Bombardier in Derby and in the supply chain, reports today suggest that the Government are planning an action replay over Crossrail in a move that would kill UK train building once and for all.
RMT members will be protesting tomorrow (Tuesday November 8) at 10am outside the Department for Transport and the European Commission London Office against moves to expand its model for rail privatisation which has caused havoc in Britain and across the continent with no democratic mandate to do so.
The protest comes just days after German rail giant Deutsche Bahn took over the Grand Central franchise, paving the way for them to use the EU “open access” diktat to start running services on the East and West Coast routes.
A Labour conference report revealed that public ownership of rail could save £1.2 billion and that 71% believe train operators are fleecing the public and only 19% believe railways should remain in private hands.
Reuniting the railways under public ownership could save the taxpayer £1.2bn a year according to a briefing from the Transport for Quality of Life Think Tank to be presented at Labour Party conference today - 28th September.
THE RMT AGM in Fort William has sent a message of “full and unconditional” support to the three quarters of a million workers taking action today against Government attacks on their pensions.
RMT has also pledged to co-ordinate its campaigning and action against the McNulty assault on the railways with other workers facing similar attacks on their jobs, pay and pensions over the coming months.
Speaking from the RMT AGM in Fort William, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
PASSENGERS ON privatised UK trains are having to fork out £4.6 billion a year more than equivalent travellers in France, where railways remain publicly owned, a study undertaken for RMT, Britain's biggest rail union, has found.
THE AGM of rail union RMT, meeting in Fort William this week, has endorsed plans for a massive national campaign, including a cross-industry strike ballot if necessary, to resist any attempts by the Government to roll out its McNulty Rail Review assault on Britain’s railways.
First RMT briefing on the McNulty Review of the Railways, 27 May 2011
Background
The McNulty review Realising the Potential of GB Rail; Report of the Rail Value for Money Study was published on 19th May 2011. The review was commissioned by the last Government and continued by the current Government to “improve value for money to passengers and the taxpayer.”
Privatisation has resulted in a massive increase in costs
Three times as expensive
Dear Colleague,
As you will be aware the Government has today published the McNulty report into the railways. This circular, briefing and a video are on the RMT website at www.rmt.org.uk/mcnulty
The union has made numerous representations into the McNulty review. Predictably however the report is underpinned by the same ideology that led to the disastrousprivatisationof the railways and seems designed to appease the vested interests of the privatised train operating companies.
RMT GGC adopted the following report:
We welcome the transfer of the train maintenance contract on London Underground’s Jubilee Line from the privately-owned Alstom to the publicly-owned Tube Lines. This comes at a time when the Jubilee Line is plagued by delays and disruptions, and illustrates that this union was right to campaign against the contracting-out of this work.