VIRGIN EAST COAST STRIKE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2016 :: RMTnews 6 R MT members working on Virgin Trains East Coast took 24-hour strike action earlier this month over a threat to around 200 jobs, working conditions and safety. Talks collapsed after the company chose to ignore the negotiating machinery and subjected staff to a barrage of direct propaganda in order to bulldoze through a package of cash-led measure that would decimate jobs, working conditions and threaten the safety regime that currently ensures a guard on every train. Nearly 200 jobs across the franchise are threatened by the cuts and remaining staff will be forced to do cover the work of the deleted posts piling intolerable pressure on all sections of the workforce. There is talk within the industry that Virgin/Stagecoach seriously overbid for the East Coast franchise when the hugely successful publicly-run service was kicked out by the Tory government. It is thought that VTEC’s incompetence means that they are losing a fortune every week and are now looking to hack back on the staffing budget to try and prop up their position. The losses could be as much as £1 million a week as Virgin/Stagecoach took a gamble on this crucial inter-city franchise coming up trumps for them. This has led to the company now expecting staff and passengers to take the hit. The union has pointed out that this state of affairs is a reflection of the anarchy that persists on Britain’s privatised railways. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the union would not sit back while nearly 200 members' jobs are under threat and while conditions and safety are put at risk by a franchise which is clearly in financial trouble. “We will also not tolerate the cavalier attitude to safety that is now on show as the company mobilises its scab army of managers. “The union suspended an earlier programme of action when it looked like serious progress was being made in talks and we have shown our commitment by continuing to try and negotiate right up to the wire today. “Our members will not pay the price for a crisis cooked up in the Virgin/Stagecoach boardroom,” he said. C leaning staff on Virgin West Coast are being ballot for industrial action against plans that would reduce staffing numbers by 15 per cent and leave those remaining facing an intolerable workload. The job cuts come alongside attacks on pay and working conditions. The union also launched a ballot for action by catering supply staff on the West Coast route in a separate dispute over pay. In the nightmare, complex world of contractors and sub- contractors on Britain’s privatised railways the cleaning services have been contracted out by Virgin to Alstom as part of a facilities contract and Alstom have then, in turn, subbed out the cleaning to Voith Industrial Services which wants to 37 jobs. The cuts hit both on-board cleaners and those who clean and prepare the trains on turn-around at main rail stations The union is also fighting a three year pay freeze for staff and the imposition of draconian new terms and conditions without negotiation or agreement. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that it was disgusting that staff that keep Virgin West Coast trains clean are now themselves being treated like dirt and RMT would fight the job cuts, the imposition of draconian working conditions and the attempt to impose poverty pay. “We now have two separate disputes on Virgin West Coast involving both cleaners and catering staff and it is about time that Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin outfit stopped passing the buck and started taking some responsibility for the exploitation and abuse of support staff that is now rife on his services. “RMT will be calling on passengers, who pay top dollar for the Virgin long-haul routes, to support the staff that slog their guts out in difficult, overcrowded conditions to make the journey as comfortable as possible. “They should not be lined up for a kicking by private companies whose sole driver is their own profits and the returns to their shareholders,” he said. VIRGIN EAST COAST STRIKE VIRGIN WEST COAST BALLOTS