RAIL WORKERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST CUTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2022 :: RMTnews 16 Rail workers have painted a chilling picture of the future awaiting passengers if the brutal cuts being proposed by the industry and the Tory government are implemented. RMT conducted a survey asking rail workers what they thought would be the impact on passengers of the plans to close ticket offices, cut track and infrastructure maintenance, run trains under Driver Only operation, cut jobs across the industry and introduce more ‘multi- functional roles’ More than 10,000 rail workers responded to the survey in just five days with overwhelming majorities saying that they would worsen the passenger experience on trains and at stations make the railways even less accessible to disabled passengers put passengers at greater risk of the kind of accidents seen at Potters Bar, Hatfield, Grayrigg and Stonehaven. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that too often the people who speak for the rail industry are a clique of company directors fixated with share prices and dividend payments. “The real voices of the rail industry are in this survey, and they paint a chilling picture of the future being forged by the Tories, the train operating privateers and Network Rail. “What is being called ‘modernisation’ is in reality a drive to cut staff costs that will make Britain’s trains, stations and track less safe and less accessible to travel on and it’s being driven a government that’s only thinking about the interests of the super-rich profiteers”. RMT surveyed rail workers in six categories: fleet maintenance, track and infrastructure maintenance, on- board staff, station staff and other staff. We asked them questions based on the rail industry’s proposed cuts to track maintenance, ticket offices and jobs and its attempts to bring in new multi- functional roles and revive Driver Only Operation. Workers were asked about their view of the impact of the proposed cuts on passengers. In addition to quantitative evidence, RMT sought to collect testimony and examples from the frontline keyworkers who deliver rail services. The union opened the survey of its members in July. Within five days it had received more than 10,000 responses. KEY RESULTS: Almost 70 per cent of Network Rail track and infrastructure maintenance workers reported that they had seen cuts to their operations in the last year. Many workers are RAIL WORKERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST CUTS RMT survey reveals dystopian future for passengers with government rail cuts