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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2022 :: RMTnews 6 RMT officials and national executive committee members have been addressing mass meetings of RMT members who work for Network Rail and the 16 train operating companies being balloted for industrial action. Speakers re-iterated the fact that the cost-of-living crisis had worsened with record inflation, energy prices and a looming National Insurance hike which had increased demands for the union to take action on pay. The rail industry is also under pressure to make savings of hundreds of millions in staff costs. At a packed meeting in Birmingham RMT assistant general secretary Dempsey and Ian Allen of the NEC reported that the union was now in dispute with Network Rail and 16 other TOCs. Eddie Dempsey made it clear that rail workers were facing the fight of their lives to retain the jobs, the terms and conditions and the pensions that they had so strongly fought for over the years. He pointed out that the Conservative government had no wish to be involved in pay talks with Network Rail or any of the TOCs stating clearly the reason why Network Rail was looking to slash thousands of jobs, in order to save millions of pounds. “This is down to successive government’s poor handling of the transition from Railtrack to Network Rail which had left the company with crippling debt. “That debt is now due to be repaid and the way this Conservative government is looking to pay it is by slashing jobs in order to find money to pay back bankers’ loans. “With the government also advertising last year for a new Director of Rail Pensions and Workforce Reform, it should be clear to all members working in the rail industry that this government is also putting our pensions firmly in their sights. “We need to stand strong and take this fight to the government in order for us to have a decent wage, good terms and conditions and a decent pension that will see us through to the end of our days, which I don’t think the average working man or woman in this country would see as too much to ask,” he said. PACKED: A meeting addressed by RMT senior assistant general secretary Eddie Dempsey and NEC member Ian Allen in Birmingham hosted by Birmingham Rail branch & Midlands Regional Council. JOIN THE FIGHT BACK Rail workers across the country attend mass meetings for strike action against attacks on wages, jobs and conditions FIGHTBACK: RMT north east regional council sends out the message