FIRSTGROUP PULL OUT OF NORTH DEVON

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2012 :: RMTnews 8 C leaners, security staff and train despatchers on the Trans-Pennine Express employed by Carlisle Cleaning and Support Services took 24- hour strike action last month after bosses refused to budge from a sub-inflation pay offer. RMT members on the contract have already taken rock-solid strike action over an ‘offer’ that would inflict a real- terms pay cut on already low- paid staff. A two-week overtime and rest-day working ban followed the latest action after the company turned down an offer of talks at conciliation service Acas. RMT regional organiser Andy Warnock-Smith said that Carlisle had had ample opportunity to settle but it continued to treat members with contempt by attempting to impose another effective pay cut. “Our members’ solid strike action last month brought Carlisle back to the table but it failed to table any improvement in its offer,” he said. Staff on the contract suffer some of the worst conditions in the industry, with no sick-pay, no paid meal breaks and no enhanced pay rates for working overtime, nights, weekends or even bank holidays. Fears are growing that rural services could be lost as FirstGroup pull out of bus operations in North Devon and put routes and depots up for sale this month. RMT revealed that staff were "on a knife edge" because of uncertainty over where the axe will fall, after the company said that it would ditch up to 50 per cent of its UK bus division operations, but refused to say which areas were in the firing line. A FirstGroup spokeswoman said the company was “developing opportunities for a number of disposals of our bus operations and more information about these plans is not being disclosed for commercial reasons”. RMT regional organiser Phil Bialyk said that First staff and passengers across the region were concerned about the "unsatisfactory" lack of information. "First should have a commitment to bus services in the Westcountry, but clearly they're more worried about their shareholders. "We're on a knife-edge, not knowing if they're going to pack it in because they're not making enough money,” he said. Rival company Stagecoach has stepped in to cover many of the routes. Stagecoach employs around 120 people from its Barnstaple depot and runs around 50 buses. The addition of new services in September will see around a dozen extra vehicles and several drivers added to the fleet. Campaigners fear that Somerset is also vulnerable because the county council public transport subsidies have been cut by more than £2 million. Norman Browne of the campaign group Save Our Buses said that such severe cuts, combined with reductions in government funding, meant rural bus services were "inevitably" stretched, even to major towns such as Taunton and Yeovil. RMT general secretary Bob Crow reiterated the union’s call for the industry to be renationalised. “This shock plan by First Group would axe life-line bus services across North Devon and dump over a hundred bus workers on the dole. “This is a company that made profits of £27 million from its bus operations on its last accounts and those profits were paid out in dividends to the company shareholders with nothing reinvested. “It is now clear that renationalisation is required and those Con Dem MPs representing these areas that sat back and did nothing should be made to pay at the next election,” he said. TRANS-PENNINE RAIL CLEANERS STRIKE OVER PAY ‘INSULT’ Union calls for nationalisation of bus industry as transport privateer FirstGroup hand in the keys FIRSTGROUP PULL OUT OF NORTH DEVON