DERAILING EU TRANSPORT PRIVATISATION

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: november/december 2010 :: RMTnews 13 Nationalisation not Privatisation An Open Conference of Fighting Transport Unions London, Monday January 31, 2011 The European Commission has launched plans to establish “a single European railway area” based on EU rules demanding the privatisation of the sector. The commission is claiming that it is simply ‘recasting’ existing EU legislation such as the First Rail Package which promotes a ‘vertical split’ between rail infrastructure and operations to stimulate an internal market in rail services. Yet the European Transport Workers’ Federation says that it will have huge consequences for Europe’s railways that could even challenge the right to strike. This follows the EU’s drive to hand European lifeline ferry services, from Greek ferries services in the south to Caledonian MacBrayne services in the north, over to the private sector. In the bus sector EU- sanctioned corporate takeovers, such as German state railways Deutsche Bahn’s (DB) acquisition of Arriva, has seen the creation of EU-wide transport monopolies. National Express also sold Travel London and Travel Surrey to Netherlands rail company Abellio and Paris metro operator RAPT bought 25 per cent of bus giant Transdev. These developments represent a direct threat to job, wages and collective bargaining rights. In reality the commission is dismantling state-owned transport networks, using EU competition rules to replace them with private monopolies. The rapid consolidation in recent years of global logistics companies such as DHL, owned by Germany’s privatised post office, are the models for this legislation. Such ‘Euro champions’ compete in global markets while seizing control of railways and making renationalisation structurally complex and politically difficult. EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said: “My aim in all of this is more competition in passenger and freight services”. This confirms that EU institutions operate in the interests of monopoly finance capital, with a strategic objective to remove any vestiges of public ownership and control of transport in favour of market competition and ‘liberalisation’. The bitter experience of rail and bus privatisation in Britain has seen public subsidies soar and profits of the private monopolists who run public transport ballon along with passenger fares. That is why RMT is hosting the conference to build resistance to the EU privatisation agenda. DERAILING EU TRANSPORT PRIVATISATION RMT hosts international conference in London on January 31, 2011 to discuss the fightback against the EU’s transport privatisation drive FUTURE PUBLIC TRANSPORT L’ avenir des transports publics - Die zukunft der öffentlichen verkehr - El futuro del transporte público - O futuro dos transportes públicos - Framtiden av kollektivtrafiken - De toekomst van het openbaar vervoer - Budoucnost ve ejné dopravy - Tulevaisuus joukkoliikenteen - A jöv a tömegközlekedés - Il futuro del trasporto pubblico – N kotne sabiedrisk transporta - Viešasis transportas ateitis – Tulevik ühistransport - Fremtidens offentlig transport – Przyszło transportu publicznego - Kamu ula tirma gelece i RMT is hosting an international conference to discuss how European Union rules are the driving force behind the privatisation of transport industries across the EU. RMT has invited unions from across Europe to discuss the growing crisis in the transport sector and how to resist the privatisation drive. If your branch wishes to participate please e-mail m.carty@rmt.org.uk or phone 020 7529 8307.