Attacks on jobs, conditions, pensions, fares and safety. There’s a sustained attack on the rail industry – and the workers are fighting back…
Rail: the fight for the industry
WORKERS, JUNE 2009 ISSUE
Railway workers are facing what unions are describing as a “jobs massacre” as rail employers seek to protect their profit margins. The major transport players First and Stagecoach are slashing station and ticket office staff whilst announcing huge profits. The unions have responded by balloting members in passenger train companies for industrial action.
First has announced £94 million profit in its rail division and an increased dividend to shareholders by 10 per cent. Stagecoach has increased rail profits by £59.1 million while announcing job cuts of over 700 in South West Trains and nearly 200 in East Midlands Trains.
National Express is reported to be desperate to renegotiate the terms of its rail franchises as profits have plummeted. They have been condemned for introducing charges of £2.50 for seat reservations, and cutting catering on trains. They run the East Coast line from London to Leeds, York and Edinburgh which carries 17 million passengers a year and employs 3,100 staff. Rumours have been rife for months that National Express is in trouble, and the Department for Transport is reported to be ready to take the route back into government ownership in the same way that they did when South Eastern services were removed from Connex.
These companies have made millions of pounds out of a privatised railway that swallows massive public subsidies during a period of huge growth in passenger numbers. They have been engaged in cut-throat bidding for franchises on the basis of that growth continuing, and the current economic crisis has eaten into their profits. Their response is to get the begging bowl out for even more public funding, and making their employees pay for their greed. The real scandal is that none of these companies is losing money; the attack on jobs is being carried on to increase their profits.
The government is trying to drive down the subsidies, and has so far refused to pay more. Ministers have also refused to intervene to stop ticket office closures and further station destaffing. Rail unions RMT and TSSA have pointed out that both problems could be solved by bringing the rail franchises back into public ownership.
Railcards have just been increased by 25 per cent, and car park charges have been massively increased as the private operators seek to squeeze every last pound out of passengers. At the same time, the companies are attacking the pension rights of the staff. Pension benefits are being reduced as the Railway Pension Scheme, an industry wide scheme inherited from British Rail, is subjected to continuous ‘salami slice’ cuts.
Many companies are introducing automatic ticket barriers, designed to force passengers to buy tickets before getting on the train. East Midlands Trains are simultaneously reducing ticket office staff by up to a third, the inevitable result being long ticket queues. More and more ticket machines are being installed, but they are widely disliked by passengers. They are complicated to use and seem to be designed to rip off passengers who are unable to navigate their way through the complex fare structure. It is hardly surprising that passengers want to speak to a person to ensure they get the right ticket.
Ticket barriers were abolished at many stations many years ago, and the resultant open stations allowed for more entrances to be created. Cities like York, Sheffield and Derby have station footbridges that have become pedestrian routes from one part of the city to another, avoiding circuitous and unpleasant alternative routes. Railway companies welcomed the use of these routes by pedestrians as a means of making stations safer, with many more people being present late at night.
The proposed introduction of ticket barriers will cut these routes, and this has resulted in outrage amongst communities affected. In Sheffield, the barriers will stop tram passengers from getting to the main Sheffield Hallam University site from the stop named after it! Even more ironic is that Stagecoach run the trams as well as the station – so much for integration!
Both RMT and TSSA members working for East Midlands Trains have voted for industrial action to defend jobs and services, and negotiations continue.
Fight over Sundays
ASLEF train drivers at East Midlands have been “spontaneously” declining to work on Sundays following the company’s attempt to force drivers to do so, resulting in a very limited Sunday train service. The union asserts that working on Sundays is voluntary, a position clearly accepted by the predecessor company Midland Mainline.
A similar dispute at London Midland resulted in RMT conductors winning a victory in defending their contractual right not to be forced to work on Sundays, the company backing down after a series of strikes.
There is little doubt that other passenger-train operators intend to slash jobs and make workers pay for their declining profit margins. The unions are preparing to defend their members’ jobs, and a summer of strikes looks increasingly likely.
Meanwhile, Network Rail has cut back its track renewals by 28 per cent, potentially resulting in around 1000 redundancies amongst the workers employed by contractors. This move is coupled with reductions in track inspections and signalling maintenance, raising inevitable concerns about safety. RMT criticised this move, pointing out that it was contrary to the government’s stated intention to use infrastructure projects to stimulate employment and the economy. The government effectively owns NR, and is the main source of its cash.
The redundancies would result in skilled engineering staff being lost to the industry, and the unions have launched a campaign to defend the jobs, including taking strike action in companies such as Jarvis.
But there is no shortage of government cash to aid what is effectively further rail privatisation. £5.2 billion will shortly be used to pay off debts to smooth the sale of London & Continental Railways. L&C currently owns the British arm of Eurostar and much of the associated infrastructure, including the revamped London St Pancras station and some of Britain’s most valuable development land. It will be divided as required by the EU into an infrastructure company and a train operating company.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow commented, “It is a scandal that in the middle of the worst recession since the Second World War, the European Commission have stepped in to give the green light for £5.2 billion of tax payers money to be poured in to prepare the British end of Eurostar for privatisation. This is an asset giveaway on a massive scale and RMT will be fighting these proposals all the way. We have seen once again today that the EU is dominated by the power of the bankers and big business and that they are pushing on with their plans to privatise the last remaining publicly owned services from our hospitals to our railways.”
Ironically, the most likely buyer for the British Eurostar company is the German state-owned rail company DB, which already runs most of Britain’s freight trains and the Chiltern Trains passenger services. It also owns 50 per cent of London Overground. DB wants to go head to head in competition with French operator SNCF, exploiting the liberalisation by the EU of European international passenger train services.
Rolling stock in sidings
DB has itself been making job cuts as its freight business has seen a sharp downturn. Over half of Britain’s freight rolling stock is now not in use. The unions have called for government intervention to protect the freight capacity of the railways, stating that failure to act will mean that an upturn in the economy will result in an even greater proportion of freight going on the roads.
The government continues to press the Tyne & Wear transport authority to privatise the publicly owned and highly successful Metro system. Keep Metro Public, a long running and highly successful campaign group led by RMT, and supported by other trade unions and the Regional TUC, is fighting the privatisation.
The unions argue that a privatised Metro will result in the same problems that are faced by the privatised main line railways. It will mean poorer value for money, with public funding subsidising private sector profits. Fragmentation and bureaucratic contractual arrangements will increase costs and inefficiencies, while safety and quality of service will be undermined in the pursuit of profit. The unions predict attacks on pensions, jobs and conditions as the private sector seeks to maximise profits at Metro workers’ expense.
Rail workers should be clear that they are entering a period of sustained attacks by their employers, not just on jobs, pensions and safety, but on the very industry itself. The coming battle to defend Britain’s railways looks set to be the most intense since privatisation over a decade ago.