WEST COAST FRANCHISE JOBS BATTLE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2012 :: RMTnews 6 R MT has launched a campaign to defend jobs and services on the West Coast route – including preparing a ballot for industrial action – after First Group won the InterCity franchise on the basis of 20 per cent cuts across the board. FirstGroup based their bid on the same kind of over-geared financial projections that lead to the collapse of the GNER and National Express contracts on the East Coast – forcing the government to renationalise the service. FirstGroup shares plummeted over fears that the rail privateer might not be able to afford the franchise which it successfully bid £5.5 billion to run. City investors believe that First paid too much to run the most lucrative franchise for the next 14 years and shares tumbled six per cent. It is reported that George Osborne and the Treasury demanded that the contract go to FirstGroup regardless of the risks of another spectacular East Coast-style collapse and regardless of the fact that only months ago First pulled the plug on the Great Western route early to avoid £800 million in payments to the taxpayer. Fleet maintenance company, Alstom, has revealed that the winning West Coast InterCity bid is likely to include a wholesale reconfiguration of the rolling stock with shops and catering removed to lever in more seating capacity, putting up to 800 train crew jobs on the block. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that FirstGroup and the government should be left in no doubt that RMT would mount a massive industrial, political and public campaign to stop any attacks on jobs and the services that they provide to the travelling public. “It is clear that this franchise in being let on pure McNulty terms with a gold-plated, extended contract linked to massive cuts to jobs and passenger services and huge increases in fares in order to extract every penny in profit. “RMT will work with MPs and communities along the West Coast route to stop the savage assault on staffing levels and budgets that we expect to be at the core of this new franchise arrangement. “The new First West Coast deal is an exercise in casino franchising that lays bare the whole sordid enterprise which is rail privatisation. “Companies promise the earth, jack up fares and slash jobs and services in a drive for profits and if the numbers don’t stack up they throw back the keys and expect the public sector to pick up the pieces,” he said. WEST COAST FRANCHISE JOBS BATTLE The government’s vision for the future of our railways is a frightening read for those who work on and rely on the country’s rail network. They want the industry to find huge cost savings, and have made clear that these savings must come at the expense of passengers and railway workers with the threat to over 20,000 jobs. At the same time private companies are to be rewarded with longer franchises and the freedom to make more profits, including proposals to break up and privatise Network Rail. LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE RALLY AGAINST MCNULTY ACTION FOR RAIL CAMPAIGN Sunday September 30, 5.30pm, Mechanics Institute, 103 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6DD Come to the rally and keep up to date with the campaign to defend jobs and services by signing up at Facebook - www.facebook.com/actionforrail and Twitter - www.twitter.com/actionforrail and visiting the website www.actionforrail.org.uk