IRISH RAIL THREATENED BY EU PRIVATISATION

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2012 :: RMTnews 6 T he Irish government announced last month that it would not be seeking an extension of its current derogation from European Union legislation demanding rail privatisation. National railway Iarnród Éireann's only international link is with the UK's Northern Ireland Railways, which has a similar derogation from EU rail diktats. The Northern Ireland Administration has not requested that the UK government apply to extend its derogation. Both railways are 1,600 mm gauge and isolated from the wider European network by the Irish Sea. IÉ is currently a publicly owned, vertically integrated state railway. However EU rules require a split in operations and infrastructure and the introduction access charges for the network to enforce market mechanisms into the industry. The government is to ‘consult’ on how best to ‘restructure’ IÉ before the derogation expires on March 14 2013. Irish Transport Minister and Fine Gael politician Leo Varadkar said: “Ireland is the only country in the EU which has been allowed to retain a single operator which regulates, operates and maintains its mainline rail network.” He said that European law demanded greater competition and freer access to the rail network sector across Europe. “I would like Ireland to be well prepared to avail of any such opportunities in future,” he said. Ireland is among the countries in the eurozone that have had ‘bailout’ plans drawn up for them by the so-called Troika of the European commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which demand the privatisation of public services. R MT members working as cleaners for John Laing on the London Overground contract have won a 3.5 per cent pay increase, full sick pay and an Olympic bonus. The deal also restores differentials to supervisors with a 5.7 per cent pay increase, and both increases will be backdated to January 1 2012. Under the deal a bonus equivalent to 25 per cent of the basic salary for all cleaning, team leader and supervisory staff will be paid for the period during in which the Olympic and Paralympic Games are taking place. For the two-week period from the end of the Olympic and the commencement of the Paralympic Games a bonus of 12.5 per cent on the basic salary will apply. Cleaners will be eligible for the first time for entry into the company sickness scheme. London regional organiser Steve Hedley said that it was a ground-breaking deal which set the benchmark for cleaners in the transport industry. “We only recently won trade union recognition for this group of workers and they are being rightly rewarded for the hard work they do,” he said. RMT won bargaining rights for the staff, who work from depots at Acton, Gospel Oak, New Cross Gate and Willesden, last year following a ballot carried out under Central Arbitration Committee rules. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that it was another major milestone in the campaign to win better pay, conditions and rights for a group of workers who have been hammered by privatisation. IRISH RAIL THREATENED BY EU PRIVATISATION DEAL: RMT reps Josephine Eksoh and Mohammed Orisakeye with Bob Crow and Steve Hedley LONDON OVERGROUND CLEANERS WIN OLYMPIC BONUS AND SICK PAY