REPORT SAYS PPP “NOT GOOD ENOUGH”

RMTnews :: september 2005 4 Open six days a week Mon to Fri - 8am until 6pm, Sat - 9am to 4pm e-mail: info@rmt.org.uk Legal helpline: 0800 587 7516 Seven days a week Members Helpline Freephone 0800 376 3706 “T RANSPORT for London’s second annual report into the performance of the PPP on London Underground has concluded that “performance is not good enough and is less than what was promised”. The Infracos and their shareholders are earning significant sums through the PPP, but the volume of real work out on the railway is not consistent with the payments being made,” it said. The report highlights that in the second year of PPP engineering overruns are up 35 per cent and now average more than one a week. Poor planning and execution are primary causes for the overruns. In addition, the track renewals programme is 31per cent lower than that promised in the Infraco bids. The report also points to the organisational changes which the Infracos have undergone since the sell-off. Two of the original members of the Tubelines consortia, Amey and Jarvis, have had their interests transferred to the Spanish firm Ferrovial Tubelines has siphoned off £57 million in profits in the past year, which adds up to over £1million a week, and shareholders received a total of £27.5 million. Metronet is also on its third chief executive in two years and concern has been expressed that Metronet consortium member Bombardier has had its credit rating downgraded to ‘junk-bond’. However, Balfour Beatty, which has a 20 per cent stake in Metronet, announced profits of £20 million despite losing mainline rail contracts and admitting to breaches of health and safety following the Hatfield train crash. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said it was “astonishing” that a firm that had been thrown off rail maintenance contracts should still be allowed to operate on the Tube. “It will come as no comfort to those RMT members currently employed by Metronet who will be transferred to Bombardier in the forthcoming months that the report argues that the rating has not yet directly affected the PPP,” he said. RMT London regional organiser Bobby Law said that it was now abundantly clear that the PPP is an expensive and flawed scheme. “The only winners are the Infraco shareholders who set to pocket huge profits, almost £100 million in the first year alone,” he said. He said that it was time to scrap the PPP and use the profits to pay for more staff, guards and enhanced safety and communications systems. REPORT SAYS PPP “NOT GOOD ENOUGH” RMT is the first union in Britain to introduce its own ‘in- house’ campaigning call centre which has been created to improve communications with members. The Call Centre will provide the union with a professional service and RMT phone operators have received first class training from Michael Banks, who runs the massive phone campaign for Amnesty International. The project, set up jointly by the organising unit and membership department, started on the September 6 and the results are already looking positive. Alan Pottage of the organising unit said that the facility was yet another weapon in the RMT’s impressive armoury. “The ‘London Calling’ campaign will allow us to improve our ability to communicate directly with our members over important issues. Campaigning for yes votes in ballots is one important benefit. “I am glad to say that we will also be phoning every single member who leaves the RMT within a month and we expect to persuade a number to think again and to re-join,” he said. Operators have made an impressive start and have already gathered important information that RMT can follow up. Pete Waters of the membership department said that the union will continue to write to lapsed members and send branches a list of leavers. “The campaign gets across all the powerful reasons why transport workers should stay in RMT,” he said. LONDON CALLING