BOMBARDIER WORKERS TAKE CASE TO PARLIAMENT

Bombardier workers were met from the train at St Pancras station earlier this month by cheering RMT members before going to parliament for the Transport Committee hearing on procurement. RMT, councillors, MPs and sister unions representing the Bombardier staff went to Westminster to give a clear message to the government - if you think that the sabotage of train building in the UK is now a done deal, think again. Demands are growing for the ConDem coalition to reverse the decision to award the £1 billion Thameslink fleet contract to Siemens of Germany to supply 1,200 new train carriages and place the work with Bombardier in Derby. In July over 10,000 marched through Derby city centre to demand justice for Bombardier workers as people left offices to join shoppers in applauding the demonstrators before a rally on Cathedral Green. These demands have grown louder since it was announced that the Crossrail fleet tender will be delayed for a year in recognition of the government and EU-inspired stitch up that led to the Thameslink scandal. RMT has reminded the government that Siemens only has ‘preferred-bidder’ status on the Thameslink tender and that the deal is not yet signed off. A barrage of experts have said that the government could easily and legally rule Siemens out on the basis of its record of global involvement in corrupt practices without any need to re-open the tender process - paving the way for the saving of thousands of manufacturing jobs in and around the East Midlands and what is left of train-building in the UK. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the delay to the Crossrail fleet tender was an admission by the government that it had got the Thameslink contract wrong and it should now do the decent thing and award that work to Bombardier in Derby before it is too late. “There is now no excuse for the destruction of train building in the UK and if the government fails to reverse the Thameslink stitch up while there is still time they will stand accused of playing politics with peoples livelihoods,” he said. Sizable delegations of Bombardier workers will be taking the campaign to all the political party conferences in the coming weeks. Nearly a thousand UK companies in the supply chain stand to lose out if the government persists with the planned betrayal of Bombardier in Derby over the Thameslink fleet contract. The companies hit by the decision are spread all over the country - including the constituencies of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osborne and Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond. RMT regional organiser Ken Usher said that a survey of the Bombardier supply chain showed that thousands more jobs are on the line across the country including on the doorstep of David Cameron and his Cabinet colleagues. “The fight to defend train- building in the nation that gave the railways to the world, in the teeth of government inaction and EU diktat, remains well and truly on,” he said. BOMBARDIER WORKERS TAKE CASE TO PARLIAMENT Survey reveals a thousand UK companies in the supply chain stand to lose out if the government persists with the planned betrayal of Bombardier workers in Derby RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2011 :: RMTnews 4 See the video on RMTv at rmtv.org.uk RALLY TO SAVE BOMBARDIER Wednesday October 12, 12.30 House of Commons, London