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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2012 :: RMTnews 12 R MT is demanding that the government reverse the decision to award the crucial Thameslink fleet contract to German giant Siemens following revelations that that the Siemens bid was priced in Euros and with the ten per cent decline in the value of the currency since tendering the cost to the UK taxpayer on the £1.4 billion contract has soared by £140 million. In a response to a series of parliamentary questions from Derby MP Chris Williamson, a member of the RMT Parliamentary Group, the Department of Transport confirmed that elements of each of the named rolling stock procurements are priced in foreign currencies, including the Euro, and that “up to the point of financial close any fluctuations in the value of the Pound against the Euro have the potential to impact upon the cost of these procurements to Her Majesty’s government”. RMT believes that the fluctuation in the Siemens price, added to the social and economic cost of the loss of 10,000 jobs at Bombardier in Derby and in the supply chain, means that the case for reversing the original decision is now overwhelming and the delay in signing off the deal presents the government with a window of opportunity to do just that. A key Commons committee has also called for the whole procurement process to be subjected to a full scrutiny by the National Audit Office. The Transport Select Committee report confirmed everything that the union has been saying about the loaded and distorted procurement process that has left 10,000 jobs at Bombardier in Derby and in the supply chain, hanging by a thread including: • The failure to include socio economic factors in the tendering process right from the start loaded the dice against Bombardier • More account was taken of the banking and financial status of Siemens than of the design, quality and excellence of the tried and tested Bombardier engineering • The facts behind the decision to knock back the Bombardier bid have been shrouded in the cloak of “commercial confidentiality” despite the severe implications for UK train-building. • There should be a proper rolling- stock procurement plan aimed at protecting and expanding jobs and skills and recognising UK design and build excellence. RMT general secretary Bob Crow welcomed the report but said that the catalogue of failure behind the betrayal of Bombardier had sunk to a new low. “This report confirms what RMT has said all along - that the procurement process was loaded against Bombardier regardless of the social and economic impact of dumping 10,000 manufacturing jobs. “Political inaction, combined with EU diktat, came together in a poisonous cocktail to deliver a hammer blow to train building in the nation that gave the railways to the world. “News that the taxpayer will now expected to subsidise Siemens to the tune of £140 million due to the collapse in value of the euro is one more reason to cancel this deal and back British train manufacturing. "RMT has said for months that the chaos in the financial markets has delayed the sign off of the Thameslink deal and now that we have been proved right it is time for the government to cut the lies and give this vital work to the Derby workforce, who are geared up and ready to go, while there is still time," he said. UK TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR DESTRUCTION OF TRAIN-BUILDING INDUSTRY Union calls on government to act to save 10,000 jobs at Bombardier in Derby and in the supply chain by awarding the Thameslink fleet to the UK-based company