SOUTHAMPTON MARCHES AGAINST ATTACKS ON RAIL JOBS, SAFETY AND SERVICES

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2014 :: RMTnews 7 R MT is demanding that the Scottish government transport minister Keith Brown delivers on previous personal assurances on workforce and pension protections in the 2016- 22 Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract. The call comes as the Holyrood government draft budget for 2015-16 increased the Scottish Ferries budget by £40.3 million, over 27 per cent more compared to 2014-15, sparking fears that the money was designed to fatten up the Clyde and Hebrides contract for privatisation. RMT successfully campaigned against unbundling Clyde and Hebrides ferry services and, in September 2012 secured a three year extension to the existing contract with CalMac. The minister gave the late Bob Crow his personal commitment in 2012 in talks with RMT, the Scottish TUC and the other unions, Nautilus, TSSA and Unite, clearly stating that a pensions working group would be established to discuss these issues. This commitment was repeated in July 2013, when Mr Brown stated that a working group would be formed by ‘spring 2014’ at the latest. Yet these discussions have still not taken place and uncertainty over pensions and the status of wider workforce protections in the next CHFS contract also remain uncertain. RMT national secretary Steve Todd said that time was now running out as the Scottish government has said that the Invitation to Tender documents would be issued in ‘autumn 2014’. “Unions wrote to Keith Brown in September to register frustration at this failure to abide by his own commitments and stating that industrial action over this issue is an option if this farcical ministerial performance continues,” he said. MSPs in the RMT Parliamentary group have also tabled written questions to the Scottish government, demanding an explanation of the failure to establish the pensions working group and calling for the outstanding discussions to start as soon as possible. R MT Wessex regional council hosted a major march and rally in Southampton City Centre this month as part of RMT's national anti-McNulty campaign, opposing cuts to jobs, services and the further break up and privatisation of Network Rail. RMT is shining the spotlight on the full impact of the McNulty proposals which would see as many as 20,000 jobs slashed from the railways leading to more ghost stations with the closure of ticket offices and removal of platform staff. Train services would be subjected to driver only operation (DOO), removing the Guards from the train and compromising safety. The cuts would leave vulnerable and disabled people with very few options in terms of being able to access rail services. The break-up of Network Rail would see greedy privateers competing in a race to bottom to grab lucrative maintenance contracts. That would be an action replay of the Railtrack disaster where reductions in staffing and lowering of safety standards led directly to a number of rail tragedies resulting in death and injuries to passengers and railway staff. RMT and sister unions are demanding the full return of the railways to public control and have the support of 70 per cent of the British people for that policy as well as the backing from unions and organisations opposing austerity and cuts to jobs and services. Rally speakers included RMT president Peter Pinkney Mick Cash and Keith Morrell a Southampton City Councillor opposing cuts. Mick Cash said that there was a growing national campaign against attacks on rail jobs, safety and services, against the greed and exploitation of the private rail companies and in support of the call for the entire rail network to be brought back into public ownership. “The Southampton area is heavily reliant on rail transport links and we know that the public overwhelmingly back our call to end two decades of the privatisation rip-off and to bring our railways back under direct public control,” he said. SOUTHAMPTON MARCHES AGAINST ATTACKS ON RAIL JOBS, SAFETY AND SERVICES RMT SEEKING ASSURANCES ON CLYDE AND HEBRIDES FERRY SERVICES