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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2022 :: RMTnews
20
T
ransPennine Express
conductor members took
further strike action in the fight
for pay justice earlier this
month.
RMT general secretary Mick
Lynch said that Trans Pennine
Express conductor members
were standing rock solid again
in their fight for a pay deal
that recognises the growing
cost of living crisis confronting
working people.
"RMT has made it
absolutely clear that those at
the sharp end of our public
services, who have worked
throughout to keep Britain
moving during COVID, should
not now be taking a hit to
their standards of living,” he
said.
RMT has revealed that TPE’s
owners have taken out
dividends worth £30 million
from their rail empire and are
awaiting the Secretary of
State’s permission to pay out a
further £33 million.
TransPennine Express and
Avanti West Coast are on
National Rail Contracts which
enable them to make dividend
payments up to the value of
100 per cent of their profits,
subject to having their
performance assessed by the
Secretary of State.
FirstGroup’s latest trading
update notes that the DfT has
confirmed that so far, they are
in line to meet their targets,
raising the prospect of a
whopping dividend payment
for TPE in the near future.
“If you want to see an
example of gross injustice,
compare the treatment of
essential keyworkers on the
railways with the frankly
revolting profiteering from the
owners of Transpennine
Express.
“Managers intone piously
about disruption to
passengers, but their
companies are leeching
millions out of our railways
with the connivance of a
callous government.
“Transpennine Express
could show that they are
something more than parasites
by spending less time trying to
line up their dividend
payments and starting to fund
pay justice for hard working
staff,” said Mick Lynch.
TRANSPENNINE
CONDUCTORS STRIKE
SOLID
Manchester
Sheffield
Liverpool
Manchester Airport
Newcastle