A RECIPE FOR EXPLOITATION AND GREED

RMT has launched a campaign to fight the Con-Dem vision for rail contained in its command paper which would see 12,000 job cuts, rocketing peak-time rail fares and private train operators seizing control of track maintenance. The announcement to implement these proposals, lifted from the McNulty review, came as train operators, through their front organisation ATOC, admitted that they were planning to use an increase in rail demand as an excuse for jacking up fares and pumping up profits. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the government rail plan had little to do with efficiency as claimed, but was a recipe for exploitation with the train operators given the green light to rob passengers blind to travel on overcrowded and unsafe trains in the name of private profit. “Axing ticket offices and guards will turn stations and trains into no-go areas. “For passengers it will mean the double scandal of being mugged by those who set the fares and then running the risk of being mugged by criminals using the destaffed services as a cover for violence and assaults. “This plan also sets us on course for a return to the dark and dangerous days of Railtrack that led to the disasters of Hatfield and Potters Bar. “For the first time since the creation of a nationalised Network Rail the way is being paved for private companies to run localised, mini-Railtrack concessions in the name of greed and profit. “At least 12,000 jobs are placed at risk as a result of this industrial vandalism on the tracks and RMT has conference policy stating that the assault on jobs and working conditions set up by McNulty, and now mirrored by the government, will be met by a national campaign of resistance including industrial action,” he said. The paper also proposes longer rail franchising with less specification. The government plans to introduce permanent austerity to the rail network by stating that “as part of the process for selecting future franchises, proven records of successfully reducing costs in the past and clear plans for the future will be assessed”. RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2012 :: RMTnews 8 A RECIPE FOR EXPLOITATION AND GREED ce privatisation PLEASE SUPPORT THE CA (See overleaf to see how you ca Government command paper on rail gives green light for massive job cuts, fare hikes and the return of Railtrack R MT is supporting an on-line petition to get VAT taxation removed from the fuel bills of air ambulance charities. Unlike the lifeboat service RNLI, under European Union rules these charities are not exempted from the tax. The Air Ambulance Service is also forced to meet rising fuel prices year on year on top of VAT. The Air Ambulance Service has saved successive governments millions of pounds funded by charitable donations given by the public to run what has become an essential service. Whilst the lifeboat service has been exempt from VAT on fuel costs since 1977, a similar privilege has not been afforded to the Air Ambulance Service. The e-petition calls on the government to return in the form of grants to Air Ambulance Service providers all the future VAT which the Treasury collects from them so that the service is in practice exempt from VAT in the same way as the Lifeboat Service. For a debate to be triggered in the House of Commons 100,000 signatures are needed. The union urges you to sign the petition, and please circulate it widely so support can be built. The petition can be found at: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/29349 SAVE AIR AMBULANCE POSTCARD: Handing rail infrastructure and signalling operations to a private operating company threatens a return to the era of Railtrack, which was responsible for a number of fatal train crashes and was subsequently shut down. Copies of postcard above available from Unity House.