RENATIONALISE WEST COAST ROUTE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2012 :: RMTnews 6 R MT secured a massive victory in the fight to defend Scottish Ferry services after it was confirmed that the planned tendering of the Cal Mac Western routes has been pushed back for three years. The confirmation of the three year delay followed assurances given in direct meetings between the Scottish transport minister Keith Brown and the union that there would be no unbundling of the routes, limiting their attraction to predatory private companies. The minister announced that Cal Mac’s contract for Clyde and Hebrides ferry services (CHFS) would be extended to 2015 and that the tendering process for the next six year contract would begin in autumn 2014. As a result, lifeline ferry services to the west coast of Scotland will be delivered under a single contract until 2021 at least and will be less attractive to carpet baggers. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that it was a massive victory for the RMT campaign against privatisation and in defence of jobs and working conditions and for the users of these lifeline services. “There is no question that our campaign of political and public pressure, alongside a massive mandate for strike action from our members, has helped force the pace on this momentous decision. “There is now no excuse for ministers’ not to sign off the long term assurances on pensions and workplace rights and conditions that are still outstanding and which remain at the heart of our current dispute,” he said. RMT will also continue to campaign for the expensive and disruptive tendering of services demanded by EU directives to be scrapped for good in order to allow the delivery of essential lifeline ferry services long into the future. R MT is demanding the renationalisation of the West Coast mainline route after transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin cancelled the competition for the 15- year franchise following the admission of significant flaws in the process. The process of awarding franchises for the Great Western, Essex Thameside and Thameslink services has also been suspended and bidders will have to be reimbursed in full, humiliating the Con Dem government and throwing the whole industry into chaos. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the whole expensive shambles of rail privatisation had been dragged into the spotlight and called for ministers who presided over the fiasco to be called to account. “Instead of re-running this expensive circus, the West Coast route should be renationalised on a permanent basis. "Over £60 million that could have been invested in services will be blown on reimbursing the bidders as the government admit they cannot add up. “With a mass of other franchises coming up over the next few years the whole process has to be called to a halt and taken in-house to clear up this mess, just as they have successfully done on the East Coast. "The same basic mistakes made on the West Coast tender is occurring on other franchises as well as on the Thameslink train-building contract – which threatens the future of Bombardier – as the private sector lie through their teeth with the sole intention of robbing us blind,” he said. As polls show over 70 per cent in favour of public ownership of rail, Bob Crow called on the Labour Party to adopt a policy of renationalisation or risk alienating millions of voters. “The publicly run East Coast is more reliable and is pumping millions in surpluses into improving services while private operators are soaking up corporate welfare payments under “cap and collar” to prop up their profits and dividends. “Against this backdrop, it would be electoral suicide for Labour not to come out with a clear and decisive position in favour of renationalising rail,” he said. PROTEST: RMT activists held a protest against rail cuts and for renationalisation outside a conference organised by the profiteering train companies last month in Manchester at the very heart of the West Coast route. RENATIONALISE WEST COAST ROUTE…ALONG WITH THE OTHERS CALMAC FERRIES TENDER DITCHED