ARRIVA FIRE-SALE THREAT

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2016 :: RMTnews 6 ARRIVA FIRE- SALE THREAT A fire-sale of a sizable chunk of Deutsche Bahn’s UK operations has jacked up a new threat to jobs and services, RMT has warned. The proposed sell off of up to a 45 per cent minority stake in Deutsche Bahn's foreign acquisition arm Arriva and global freight logistics company DB Schenker has now been agreed by the DB Supervisory Board. The sell-off plan impacts on all DB Schenker UK freight operations and Arriva Rail franchises and services including Arriva Trains Wales, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country, Grand Central, London Overground and Northern Rail. RMT is warning that rail workers in Britain employed by Arriva or DB Schenker may rapidly see their employer's ownership status transformed in over next three years. This transformation will have drastic consequences for rail users and workers since private investors are notorious for expecting very short term financial returns, often achieved through job and pay cuts as well as fare rises. The company has confirmed a timetable for a final "implementation decision" for the part sale of Arriva DB by autumn this year. The first tranche of share options is expected to bring in about €1.5 billion revenues in 2017. For 2018, according reports a further €2 billion proceeds of sell offs are expected and more than €1 billion again in 2019. It is not clear who the potential buyers would be but the union has warned that it will very likely to be the same old mob of banks, hedge funds and investors. The proposed sell-off also demonstrates a fundamental weakness of the privatised franchising model in that the ownership, and solvency, of the parent company may change without the workers, their unions, rail users or even the government franchising body having any say in it. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the looming fire sale of a large chunk of DB’s UK rail assets to the same old gang of spivs and speculators had set the alarm bells ringing for all Arriva and DB Schenker staff. “The deal that is being racked up exposes the flakey and unstable nature of rail franchising that allows a company to win a contract and then sell off lumps of it at what is nothing more than a corporate car-boot sale without any controls over who is getting a slice of the action. “RMT is alerting members to these threats to counter the PR spin from the company and will respond in robust fashion to any threat to jobs and conditions,” he said.