RMT MEMBERS LOBBY PARLIAMENT AGAINST NETWORK RAIL CUTS

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2010 :: RMTnews 8 Hundreds of members from all over the country joined RMT’s lobby of Parliament recently to send a message to MPs that “Rail Cuts Cost Lives”. Many travelled overnight to be part of the fight against rail maintenance job cuts. The noisy gathering opposite the House of Commons rammed the unions’ message home to elected representatives. MPs were handed an RMT dossier after hundreds of rail workers contacted a confidential RMT email line to say lives could be put at risk. The dossier highlights the worst examples of where the scaling back of work and changing standards in preparation for the job cuts are already leading to a serious deterioration in safety. These first-hand accounts make for extremely disturbing reading. Examples include: - • Reduced track safety inspections • Delaying the repair of faulty level crossings • Reduced safety checks on railway signals Committee Room 14 in the heart of Parliament was jam packed with RMT members and the mood was electric and uncompromising. Over one hundred MPs have already signed Early Day Motion 80 tabled by Linda Riordan opposing the Network Rail jobs carnage and many MPs prepared came along to show their support. Luton North MP Kelvin Hopkins launched an impassioned plea for both the reversal of the NR cuts and the renationalisation of the entire rail network. Citing the recent chaos on the First Capital Connect franchise, he said that “The railways were handed over to the private companies in good order, they are not in good order now. “I want to know when someone is going to prosecute Jarvis over Potters Bar? “We now have a fraction of the maintenance workforce we had under British Rail and anyone can see that we need more staff, not less,” he said. Katy Clarke, North Ayrshire and Arran MP and another member of RMT’s parliamentary group, called for urgent action from the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis over the rail jobs massacre. “The government needs to intervene immediately, they will have blood on their hands if they don’t. “As an MP I get constant complaints from my constituents about safety and security on the railways and they simply will not believe that the government don’t have the power to act,” she said. RMT parliamentary group convenor John McDonnell laid the blame for the cuts drive at Network Rail firmly at the door of top boss Ian Coucher. “The bosses at Network Rail want to do what they like and pay themselves what they like and it’s about time the government dragged them in and told them that the games up. “How many more disasters will it take before the people in control recognise the connection between resources and rail safety?” he said. There were also rousing contributions from RMT president Alex Gordon and general secretary Bob Crow who said that the union was on a “war footing”. “We are sending out a clear message to Coucher and to the government that if they want to trigger national industrial action in the run up to the general election in defence of jobs and safety then on their heads be it,” he said. Sister rail unions, TSSA and ASLEF, backed the initiative and representatives from both organisations addressed the rally. ORR RESPONDS Following the lobby and the release of the union’s dossier of Network Rail failures, the Office RMT MEMBERS LOBBY PARLIAMENT AGAINST NETWORK RAIL CUTS RMT hands dossier of rail safety failures to MPs at lobby in protest at 1,500 maintenance job losses