NO TO MCNULTY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: april 2012 :: RMTnews 12 The annual supervisory and clerical grades conference meeting in Edinburgh called for a united campaign to defeat the NcNulty review being adopted by the ConDem government. Assistant general secretary Pat Sikorski said that the McNulty report threatened to break up Network Rail, job and wage cut and above inflation fare hikes every year to at least 2019. “The big companies now want to mould the industry to operate entirely for profit. “This would also mean the closure of ticket offices, stripping out staff and the introducing Driver-Only Operation by 2014,” he said. He warned that the moves represented the threat of a ‘race to the bottom’ with the introduction of agency workers in the drive to make money. McNulty also demands lower wages and recommends that train companies should consider the closure of all ticket offices in 27 per cent of stations on the network. The report calls for increasing the availability of ticket vending machines at larger stations, enabling a reduction in the number of ticket office windows, encouraging greater use of technology which does not require staff and increasing penalty fares. Conference agreed that a positive campaign was required to present an alternative future for the transport industry based on decent public services. Sean Hoyle from the Council of Executives reported that the union was supporting the broadest possible campaign, uniting unions, passenger and community groups to defend clerical grades. “McNulty is seeking to obliterate clerical grades across the rail network. “We are working with TSSA in the Staff Our Stations campaign,” he said. Regional organiser Mick Hogg said that Scottish lifeline ferry networks faced McNulty- style attacks of fragmentation, job cuts and less services in the drive for profit. He said that no private operator putting in tenders for Caledonian MacBrayne and Northlink ferry services could provide the same levels of health and safety, wages and services currently maintained by the union. “In Scotland we have initiated a cross-union campaign through the RMT Scottish parliamentary group to oppose the fragmentation of Scotrail and ferry services. “We are on a collision course with the Scottish government and we need to be prepared now,” he said. Ronnie Coates, Edinburgh, said that in order to fight attacks from the government and the employers, the union had to build industrial trade unionism in the clerical sector. “We have always represented all staff should be proud of our slogan ‘all grades united in one common cause’,” he said. He called on the union to develop grade-specific propaganda to explain the benefits of RMT membership. Conference agreed that the union should re-double efforts to organise clerical, supervisory and management grades into RMT membership. Graham Knott, South Hants, NO TO MCNULTY Supervisory and clerical grades meeting in Edinburgh call for unity to fight McNulty’s plans to further fragment the transport industry