SWEETHEART DEALS FOR PRIVATE RAIL COMPANIES

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2021 :: RMTnews 12 The government has been conducting backroom deals with train operating companies that allow them to break their franchise contracts with minimal termination fees following the collapse of the contracts, according to the union. At the same time the government is presenting these companies with risk free direct awards which is a “licence to print money” whilst they are preparing to pay out huge dividends to their shareholders. For instance, First Group Plc plans to restart paying huge dividends to shareholders whilst workers across the railway face an across the board two year pay freeze and it has now been reported that First Group has come to an agreement with The Department for Transport on the termination of its TransPennine Express franchise for a final fee of £6 million, which is around £50 million less than first assumed. Both the DfT and First Group are now negotiating a direct award to run to May 2023 with a possible extension of two years. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that it was scandalous that as heroic rail workers were facing a two year pay freeze these fat cat train operating companies have been given the green light to print money whilst paying out eye-watering dividends to shareholders. “Instead of taking this failed franchise into public ownership, as we have seen with other failed franchises in Scotland and Wales, and indeed with Northern Rail and LNER in England, we are seeing government scrambling to save what is left of railway privatisation regardless of the cost to the taxpayer.  “This is nothing short of a great railway racket cooked up between the DfT and a small cabal of transport companies to keep the utter failure of railway privatisation on life- support whilst rail workers have their pay frozen and passengers continue to be ripped off,” he said. The union is writing to the National Audit office and an immediate transparent inquiry into how these backroom deals were conducted and to ensure the railway and transport system works in the interests of passengers and rail workers and not just a small group of very wealthy shareholders. The union also has accused the government of deceiving the British public and transport workers with a Queen’s Speech that made no mention of their planned cuts agenda across rail and bus sectors. Network Rail is currently planning cuts that would result in thousands of job losses by this September and a wholescale dilution of safety standards, including a halving the frequency of safety critical maintenance work. Mick Lynch said that this Queen’s Speech was the government’s opportunity to commit to a historic mass investment in public transport to drive our country forward out of the Covid-19 crisis whilst leading in the fight against climate change in year of the vital COP26 conference. “Instead, we’ve got a paper-thin speech that masks the reality of their cuts agenda across our railways and bus sectors. This Queen’s Speech confirms where this government’s priorities lie and it clearly isn’t with passenger interests and the heroic key transport workers that have kept our country moving throughout the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said. SWEETHEART: First Group Plc plans to restart paying huge dividends to shareholders whilst workers across the railway face a two year pay freeze. SWEETHEART DEALS FOR PRIVATE RAIL COMPANIES RMT calls for full inquiry into backroom deals as another rail company fleeces tax and fare payers