NATIONAL EXPRESS CUTS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: march 2009 :: RMTnews 6 O ne family is facing the harsh reality of what the drive to protect profits means at National Express RMT. Karen James (a local rep) and her mother Ruth are both victims of the company’s job cuts which leave all platforms on the Southend Victoria area without staff. Meanwhile, Karen's Dad Trevor has also seen his ticket office supervisor job go. South East Essex Branch members (pictured from left to right) Derrick Marr, Ruth James, Karen James and Chris Lewis attended Billericay station and distributed approximately 1,800 leaflets and postcards to National Express East Anglia (NXEA) Managing Director Andrew Chivers protesting against the job cuts. Karen and Ruth were joined by South East Essex branch committee members Derrick Marr (secretary) and Chris Lewis (auditor) and all four received friendly and favourable responses from the morning peak commuters at Billericay. A similar exercise carried out recently at Liverpool Street saw 470 postcards signed and returned by disgruntled NXEA customers and the company subsequently threatening a legal redress over the affect of the postcards. RMT members on NXEA recently voted for strike action over the job cuts and the companies growing use of agency and contract labour (see page 11). NATIONAL EXPRESS CUTS The reality NATIONAL EXPRESS PUTS PROFITS FIRST R MT declared that plans by the National Express group to cut rail jobs and services – despite a 28 per cent rise in UK rail profits and a nearly £60 million 2008 dividend payout – were an insult to passengers and transport workers alike. As National Express posted pre-tax 2008 UK rail profits of £81.3 million, up from £63.3 million in 2007, and nearly £60 million in dividends in 2008, up nearly £6 million on 2007, RMT demanded a complete freeze on dividend payments to protect jobs and services. National Express has made big profits on the back of massive fares increases, public subsidy and overcrowding. “In the light of the money they have made, plans to cut jobs and pare services to the bone are an insult and a disgrace,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. The union affirmed that it will resist job cuts, and called for no dividends to be paid by National Express to shareholders while there is a threat to cut jobs and services. Talk about maintaining profitability through “cost initiatives” and “revenue support” was dismissed as a smokescreen for cutting jobs and services and taking even more public money. “Even in the good times rail franchising has been a massive drain on the rail industry, but in the recession it is threatening to do untold harm to the very fabric of the network. “What is supposed be a public service has become a crude mechanism for converting huge sums of passengers’ and taxpayers’ money into profits, and it is time to bring rail operations back into the public sector where they belong,” Bob Crow said. RMT demands dividend freeze to protect jobs and services