POTTERS BAR INQUEST VERDICT– IT COULD HAPPEN AGAIN

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: july/august 2010 :: RMTnews 7 R MT is demanding government intervention to ensure that former Jarvis workers get £28 million in wages that are owed to them following the collapse of the company. The demand came after the administrators Deloitte suggested that the workforce are unlikely to get a penny while the Jarvis bankers are getting paid back in full. RMT has lodged legal claims on both the individual and collective aspects of the collapse of Jarvis. These claims are on the basis that Jarvis/Fastline failed to consult with the union in relation to redundancies and that individuals were unfairly dismissed, had unlawful deductions from their wages and that their contracts were breached. The legal action also incorporates claims that TUPE should have applied against the following companies: Jarvis, Fastline, Network Rail, Babcock Rail, BAM Nuttall, Amey, Colas Rail, DB Schenker, Freightliner, WS Atkins, VolkerRail, Balfour Beatty, Swietelski, Torrent Trackside, C Spencer RMT general secretary Bob Crow said the government had an obligation to the Jarvis workforce to make good the money that they are owed. “These workers were employed to maintain and upgrade the nation’s railways and it’s only because of privatisation that they ended up working for a cowboy outfit like Jarvis. “If the government can find tens of billions to bail out the banks then they can find the £28 million that’s owed to the Jarvis staff,” he said. He said that with the government driving their transport cuts policy at full tilt redundancies at Babcock Rail, Balfour Beatty and Amey/Colas are also expected as well. “Yet again it’s the workforce taking a hammering while the company directors and the banks that finance them are protected at every turn. “That’s Britain under the ConDems in 2010,” said Bob. RMT TAKES LEGAL ACTION AS JARVIS WORKERS GET NOTHING WHILE BANKS ARE PAID OFF T he Potter’s Bar inquest has found that the deadly crash in May 2002 had been caused by unsafe points – and it could happen again. In the verdict Coroner Judge Michael Findlay Baker QC warned that there was a continuing risk to rail passengers and said he would file a report under Rule 43 of the 1984 Coroners Rules which allows coroners to express concern that circumstances continue to create a risk of other deaths. "Whatever the causes, the passage of over eight years from the derailment to the conclusion of the hearing of the inquest is indefensible,” he said. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the judge had reinforced the point that RMT made in its evidence to the inquest – that there remains a continual risk of another major disaster on our railways as inspections and maintenance fall victim to financial cuts. “It remains an absolute scandal that it has taken over eight years to get to the point where we have at last got an inquest verdict but it at least confirms what we already knew – that this tragic loss of life at Potters Bar could have been avoided if safety rather than profits had been the priority on our railways,” he said. He said that RMT had written to Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) and the Health and Safety Executive demanding assurances that urgent action is being taken on rail safety. “Basic failures of inspection and of maintenance, driven by the greed and fragmentation of rail privatisation, led us to Potters Bar. “Those responsible for creating that lethal culture, the politicians and their business associates, will never share the pain of the victims of their gross mismanagement and they have escaped prosecution for their role in this avoidable disaster. “Since the disaster, Jarvis and Railtrack, have gone out of business and that makes a mockery of justice. “Nobody should be under any illusions that the cuts to maintenance and renewals being imposed on our railways today are dragging us back to exactly the same poisonous cocktail of conditions that led to Potters Bar,” he said. The ORR, the Crown Prosecution Service and British Transport Police are now planning to reopen investigations into whether criminal proceedings could be brought over the deaths of seven people in the Potters Bar rail crash eight years ago. In October 2005, the CPS said that no charges of manslaughter by gross negligence could be brought. But a CPS spokeswoman said: "We will be looking to see whether any evidence came out of the inquest which would require us to review the decision". More than 70 people were injured and seven died when the 12.45 King's Cross to King's Lynn train came off the rails as it approached the station on 10 May 2002. • RMT has demanded an urgent government investigation into evidence obtained by RAIL magazine that hundreds of serious accidents have not been reported, sparking union fears that a culture of non- recording of incidents is rife at Network Rail and is directly linked to the senior management bonus culture. POTTERS BAR INQUEST VERDICT– IT COULD HAPPEN AGAIN