CATERING FOR GBR SERVICES

15 Expand rail catering on Great British Railways (GBR) was the message from the union’s organising conference for catering and ancillary grades meeting in Tenby. Mandy Evans, Swansea No 1 said that while there will be huge savings bringing rail back into the public sector under GBR, catering workers were raising concerns in mess rooms, surgeries and branches about job security. “We hear about a fully integrated railway but, as front line workers, caterers are rarely discussed. “Yet we are more at risk of assault while on duty and we deal with almost every situation on a daily basis with lone working and staff assaults. “We would expect catering to be part of any workforce reforms as caterers do not want to be left behind as we will only have once chance to get it right,” he said. RMT assistant general secretary Daren Ireland said that the creation of GBR should also be an opportunity to bring catering workers back in-house. “We have also seen private companies stripping out catering facilities completely to save money. “We must be raising these issues directly to GBR to rebuild catering services across the country in line with this grades campaign to ‘bring back the buffet’,” he said. He also outlined Ireland outlined the need to maintain demands for pay deals based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) and not the lower Consumer Price Index (CPI). “We know that employers and the government would like to use CPI which does not include housing costs. “If the government wants to manage our pay they should come to the negotiations and face us across the table, “he said. Delegates also raised questions about the legality of catering workers operating without hot water. Stuart Evans, Swansea No1 raised concerns over the lack of duty of care by employers when there was no access to hot running water at work. “Employers are legally required to provide hot and cold running water and washing facilities to ensure adequate hygiene when handling food and for cleaning under Regulation 21 of The Workplace (Health & Safety & welfare Regulations 1992). “Yet as transport caterers we seem to be exempt from welfare facilities such as washing, toilet, rest and changing facilities. “As caterers we are being forced to provide catering services when we have no running water, putting us at risk of infection and we are in beach of the legislation,” he warned. Sara Howell, Swansea no1 called on the union to investigate the abuse of Managing For Attendance (MFA) procedures against catering workers. She warned that catering grades were being forced backed to work to handle food before any symptom free period under the law. “Caterers are protected by the Food Safety Act 1990, but some employers are putting members on MFA procedures which are breaches in legislation,” she said. Delegates agreed that the union must investigate when legislation was not being adhered to and put pressure on employers to abide by the law. Benjamin Little, Shrewsbury called on the union to demand that non-safety critical staff such as caterers were provided with transportation during any rail disruption and adverse weather conditions. “During disruption there is often no duty of care regarding transport provision to our base depots. “We are sometimes being allocated turns of duty in the knowledge that we can’t leave our trolleys and without transport,” he said. Mandy Evans said that while other grades were being provided with taxis, caterers were often left behind. “We are simply asking to be treated with dignity and respect like other grades,” she said. Conference called on the union to take up the issue of transport provision for catering workers with employers. Next year’s conference will take place in Preston. CATERING FOR GBR SERVICES Catering grades call for expansion of catering services on a renationalised railway CONFERENCE: Catering grades rally in sunny Tenby