RAIL ROLLING STOCK RIP-OFF

www.rmt.org.uk :: january 2006 :: RMTnews 7 C hristmas and New Year strike action by more than 500 RMT conductors at Central Trains was called off after the company tabled an offer to improve compensation for bank- holiday working. The union endorsed an offer to give all conductors a day’s leave for each of the ‘substitute bank holidays’ of December 27 and January 2. The company also agreed to pay double time for conductors working on New Year’s day and to enter into “meaningful discussions” with the union to review contentious Sunday working arrangements. “Thanks to our members’ overwhelming mandate for strike action common sense has prevailed, and our members should be proud of their united stand,” RMT regional organiser Ken Usher said. He said that Central Trains had recognised a very real grievance over compensation for working bank holidays when Christmas and New Year fall at weekends. “The company has accepted that substitute bank holidays should be recognised as such and our members compensated accordingly. “Our members will also receive double time for working on New Year’s Day itself, and the company has agreed to review Sunday working arrangements that have caused much resentment,” he said . RMT WINS EXTRA LEAVE AT CENTRAL TRAINS V ery few people outside of the rail industry are aware that the Train Operating Companies (ToCs) lease their trains at hugely inflated prices from Rolling Stock Companies (ROSCOs), which are all owned by high street banks. The 2004 government White Paper The Future of Rail confirmed that the industry pays the three ROSCOs over £1billion a year in train-leasing costs. Given that in 2004/05 the ToCs received £1billion in public subsidy and raise the rest of their revenue through fares, the ROSCOs are in-effect funded by the public purse. The 2004 White Paper promised “a longer term strategy for the rolling stock market which will help the industry to plan ahead more effectively”. Since that time nothing has happened. No government initiatives have been developed to deal with the private-sector monopoly that the ROSCOs enjoy. The think-tank Catalyst reported that since privatisation, ROSCO shareholder dividends have totalled £1.3 billion. The reasons behind the huge dividends are not hard to find. Rail Professional magazine (October 2005) reported that the annual leasing charges for a three coach Sprinter, which costs around £1 million to manufacture in today’s prices, are £630,000. Even more bizarrely, Island Line pays £144,000 a year for almost 70 year-old ex-London Underground rolling stock. The government estimates that over £4.6 billion worth of rolling stock orders have been placed since 1996 (see table). It would therefore seem a fairly safe assumption that job security and employment prospects in the train manufacturing and maintenance sector are good. However, nothing could be further from the truth. JOB LOSSES The reward for the workforce at Alstom, Washwood Heath for the manufacture of the Pendolino stock was to see their factory close with the loss of over 1,000 jobs. This year has also seen the closure of Eastleigh works and job losses at Derby and Crewe. The folly of rail privatisation is that highly skilled workers are being made redundant whilst billions are spent on new stock and the ROSCOs make windfall- level profits. RMT general secretary Bob Crow made clear that that in order to protect existing jobs in the train manufacturing and maintenance workshops and to ensure that jobs and skills are developed in the future, RMT will continue to make the case for the return of the sector to public hands. “As a first step, the RMT Parliamentary group will table an early day motion in the House of Commons urging the government to bring forward a windfall tax on excessive ROSCO profits,” he said. RAIL ROLLING STOCK RIP-OFF ESTIMATED VALUE OF ROLLING STOCK ORDERS SINCE 1996 (£BN) COMPANY ESTIMATED VALUE OF ORDERS (£BN) Bombardier 2.348 Alstom 1.020 Siemens 1.004 CAF/Siemans 0.073 Hitachi 0.235 TOTAL 4.68 Source – Written Parliamentary Answer 20 December 2005