STOP STAFF ASSAULTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may/june 2025 :: RMTnews 21 The scourge of staff assaults and outsourcing must be tackled, delegates declared at the Supervisory, Clerical and Salaried grades conference in Edinburgh.  Conference unanimously voted for two resolutions dealing with workplace violence following the loss of Jorge Ortega, who tragically died when he was assaulted at Ilford Station in December 2024.  The motions highlighted ongoing concerns about violence and anti-social behaviour affecting frontline rail staff. Delegates agreed improving staff safety was vital and that ending lone working was part of the solution.  Moving both resolutions, Tom Bayliss, Brighton and Hove said that members were all “deeply shocked” by what happened to brother Ortega.  “We need top grade CCTV, more funding for British Transport Police (BTP) and cessation of lone working practices, whether that’s stations or trains with a minimum of two members of staff from start to finish,” he said. Combatting staff assaults will form the backbone of RMT’s national industrial campaigns along with insourcing and making sure that the Labour government honours all its commitments around taking the railways back into public ownership.  Guest speaker and RMT regional organiser Craig Johnston told delegates: “The powers that be are planning at least 20 per cent cuts to the British Transport Police. “While I accept that there are ambulance services, security, and various safeguarding officers—Mitie and all the rest of it—the only people who have the powers to deal with serious assaults on the railway are the British Transport Police. “We need to oppose these cuts for the benefit of our own people,” he said. He highlighted the need for insourcing and for Labour to ensure they keep their promises.  “I want to ensure that outsourced staff have a path into the same terms and conditions, collective bargaining, rights, and pay structures that we have. “I believe that’s one of the biggest steps forward.  “We will show these workers that we have an agenda for them—one that is potentially achievable. “That might mean calling all outsourced workers out on strike on the same day, to highlight the fact that they’ve been exploited for far too long, in far too many places. “This is an opportunity— under a government that claims it’s in favour of insourcing—to try and achieve those goals. “We need to take on that task, and we need to do it with relish and commitment,” he said. Keeping with the theme of the safety of railway workers and of the travelling public, RMT Scotland organiser Gordon Martin hit out at Network Rail for its approach to maintenance of the railway.  “In Scotland, all we’re seeing is cut after cut after cut. “They’ve replaced boots on ballast with technology. “And I think that puts people on the ground in danger, especially during live operations. “The eyes, ears, and experience of the men and women who maintain the railway are, in my view, far better than a drone flying 100 feet above it,” he said. He issued a stark warning to those cutting maintenance schedules and renewals on the railway: “This will end badly… with a train going down an embankment. I believe is a fact of when and not if”. Other motions passed at the conference included a call to nationalise all ticketing and to put an end to companies like Trainline and Uber cashing in on digital ticketing.  Portsmouth branch delegate and conference president Sean Hoyle issued a call for no staff reductions as the railways are brought back into public ownership under GBR.  Hayley Bouchard, Wimbledon was unanimously supported moving her motion for the Bob Crow organising day to be put back in RMT issued diaries.  Conference also struck a sombre note throughout as delegates shared memories of former NEC member Willie Strang who died last year.  STOP STAFF ASSAULTS RMT supervisory grades discuss the impact of assaults on workers and outsourcing