Tag: RMT

The press release issued by the RMT on 7 October 2022.

General Secretary Mick Lynch has written to Transport Secretary Anne Marie Trevelyan, urging the government to unshackle the railway companies and allow a negotiated settlement to be reached.

The press release issued by the RMT on 5 October 2022.

TWENTY-THREE YEARS after 31 lives were lost in the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster, RMT say that Government policy is in danger of dragging the railways closer towards the same cocktail of conditions that lead to tragedy on 5th October 1999.

Ladbroke Grove was one of a number of disasters under the watch of the privatised Railtrack, ultimately leading to its abolition and creation of the publicly owned company, Network Rail.

However, RMT is warning that casualisation, a myriad of contractors, long-hours and fatigue – all driven by cuts on the railway – has turned the clock back.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: “RMT will never allow those responsible to forget that privatised Railtrack, and the drive to cut corners in the name of profit, led to the disaster at Ladbroke Grove and the wholly preventable loss of life.

“Privatisation, fragmentation and a complete absence of corporate responsibility were at the heart of the tragedy.

“The proliferation of private agencies and contractors, often employing casual staff on zero hours contracts is rapidly dragging us back to the edge.

“The contingency staff utilised by employers during official trade union strike action are often undertrained and inexperienced.”

On the current national rail dispute which will see RMT strike action on Saturday 8 October, Mr Lynch added:

“Now, faced with such an aggressive agenda of cuts to jobs, conditions, pay and pensions, RMT has no choice but to defend our members industrially to stop this race to the bottom.

“The Cullen Inquiry into Ladbroke Grove highlighted the safety critical role of the guard and yet we are still having to fight the battle to stop driver only operations on the railway.

“We will use every tool at our disposal to both defend our members industrially and keep safety at the top of the agenda while demanding the renationalisation of our railways.

The press release issued by the RMT on 5 October 2022.

RMT members working on buses in Somerset, and Cornwall will take strike action from October 10, in a fight for better pay and conditions.

Four days of strike action will take place on the following dates:

10 October
21 October
4 November
11 November

Around 400 workers who are planning to take action are furious that many of them are only paid just over £11 and hour and that bosses only offered a small uprate to £12 an hour.

This is despite the fact First Group paid out £500m to shareholders in 2021/22 and has an operating profit of £226m.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members have no choice but to take strike action following an insulting and paltry pay offer.

“First Group is swimming in money and could easily pay bus workers a decent rise that goes some way to dealing with the escalating cost of living crisis.

“The public in Cornwall and Somerset who our members faithfully serve need a service that pays workers properly, so they do not leave the industry, creating chronic bus shortages.

“We are determined to win for our members, and we urge First Group to come to a negotiated settlement with RMT.”

The press release issued by the RMT on 5 August 2022.

Members working for ScotRail rejected management’s offer by 60 to 40 percent in a referendum.

Responding to the decision, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Our members have spoken and ScotRail will have to come up with an improved package.

“We will now seek an urgent meeting with the company.

“If no improved offer is forthcoming then we will ballot our ScotRail members for strike action.”

The press release issued by the RMT on 8 August 2022.

RMT seeks urgent meeting with Transport Secretary over Avanti crisis.

Avanti West Coast have drastically reduced their timetable including temporarily suspending ticket sales and only running four trains an hour from London Euston, one to each of Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

The company has also made unsubstantiated allegations of unofficial strike action by staff, something that RMT and other unions strongly deny.

In a letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said:

“Avanti are falsely and shamefully making allegations that this decision is due to unofficial industrial action when the reality is this decision arises from poor management, cutting staffing to the bare minimum and rock bottom staff morale.

“I am presuming that you sanctioned this decision, and I would therefore be grateful for an urgent meeting to discuss the crisis, including clarification of the following points:

“Confirmation that your permission was required for Avanti to implement a reduced timetable.

“Is Avanti in breach of their contract with the Department of Transport and what sanctions will you be taking against Avanti?

“Has public ownership of the contract been considered?

“Does the DfT have an Operator of Last Resort it can mobilize should Avanti no longer be able to operate the franchise? How long would the OLR take to mobilize?

“What steps will you be taking to resolve the situation and whether your announcement that you will ban rail staff from working overtime in the future will make a bad situation even worse?

“The government cannot continue to take the side of corporations against passengers and workers, and I look forward to your agreement to an urgent meeting to discuss this crisis.”

The press release issued by the RMT on 12 August 2022.

On the two year anniversary of the Carmont rail tragedy, Network Rail is “dragging its feet dangerously” on key safety recommendations, the country’s largest rail union RMT has warned today.

Despite the Rail Accident Investigation Branch making 20 recommendations in March earlier this year to improve safety when it reported into the causes of the tragedy, they have not been implemented.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said:

“We are extremely concerned that Network Rail is dragging its feet dangerously on key safety recommendations following the Carmont Rail Tragedy.

“In fact, instead of focusing on improving rail safety, it is proposing to make matters even worse by cutting thousands of safety critical jobs across the network.

“Our railways do not need safety cuts which will make it more likely tragedies like Carmont will happen again.

“Network Rail needs to act on safety recommendations and swiftly reverse its safety critical jobs cull.”

The press release issued by the RMT on 18 August 2022.

RMT has written to Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps to demand that the government ends its deliberate policy of prolonging rail disputes for political reasons.

The union insisted that by refusing to meet with RMT while dictating how the train companies conduct the negotiations through a ‘shameful and irresponsible use of taxpayers’ money’.

“Your government has made the decision to use taxpayer’s money to bailout private train companies from being liable for revenue lost because of industrial action on the condition the same companies comply with government instructions to hold down pay, cut thousands of safety critical rail jobs, introduce Driver Only Trains and close ticket offices across the network,” the letter said.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the union had calculated that, including the previous and forthcoming action, over £120 million of taxpayer’s money had been used to bail out private train companies to date.

“Using taxpayers’ money to satisfy the anti-union agenda of the Tory party and seek to break the trade unions is shameful and means the dispute will be prolonged indefinitely as the train companies don’t lose a penny as a result of the industrial action and therefore have no incentive to settle the disputes.

“Instead of waging an ideological war against rail workers millions of voters would rather that the government allow for a fair negotiated settlement,” he said.

To Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps

“I am writing to you as to the Secretary of State for Transport to express my concern at your continued insistence on prolonging the rail disputes for political reasons by refusing to meet the RMT while at the same time dictating how the train companies conduct the negotiations through a shameful and irresponsible use of taxpayers’ money.

Your government has made the decision to use taxpayer money to bailout private train companies from being liable for revenue lost because of industrial action[i] on the condition the same companies comply with government instructions to hold down pay, cut thousands of safety critical rail jobs, introduce Driver Only Trains and close ticket offices across the network.

RMT calculates that, including the previous and forthcoming action, over £120m of taxpayer’s money will have to be used to bail out private train companies to date.[ii]

What’s even more shocking is as the majority of the Train Operating Companies involved in the dispute are fully or partly foreign state owned, this bail out is worth over £100m to companies in full or part foreign state ownership.

Using taxpayers’ money to satisfy the anti-union agenda of the Tory party and seek to break the trade unions is shameful and also means the dispute will be prolonged indefinitely as the train companies don’t lose a penny as a result of the industrial action and therefore have no incentive to settle the disputes.

My union has met representatives of both the Scottish and Welsh governments and have had constructive discussions about the rail services they are responsible for that are not involved in this dispute, but in contrast your government refuses to engage.

I would urge you once again to allow for a fair negotiated settlement instead of waging ideological war against rail workers.”

The press release issued by the RMT on 18 August 2022.

RMT workers on London Overground and London Underground will go ahead tomorrow (Friday) against jobs cuts, attacks on pensions, low pay and the imposition of working practices.

RMT members on London Overground voted overwhelmingly for strike action after rejecting a below inflation pay offer and negotiations with Tube employers have failed to make any progress on cuts imposed by the government.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that London Overground and Underground workers were determined to protect their pensions, secure a decent pay rise, job security and good working conditions.

“Tube bosses are having secret negotiations with the government about slashing jobs and undermining working conditions and pensions all in the name of removing subsidies.

“This government-led assault on staff will be disastrous as no other comparable urban transport system in the world operates without financial support from central government to ensure good and reliable services.

“The government needs to stop trying to get services on the cheap by slashing jobs and wages and invest in what should be a world class transport network” he said.

The press release issued by the RMT on 19 August 2022.

RAIL UNION RMT has slammed plans announced by Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps to impose new contracts on railway workers, effectively ‘fire and re-hire’ on worse conditions, unless RMT calls off strike action.

The Tory minister told Sky News that if the dispute cannot be settled “we will have to move to what’s called a Section 188, it’s a process of actually requiring these changes to go into place”.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that Mr Shapps had no authority to issue Section 188 notifications as he was not the legal employer but now seems intent on forcing through fire and re-hire on rail workers despite previously claiming that he had nothing to do with negotiations between the employers and the unions.

“Despite his denials Mr Shapps has clearly been dictating how the train companies should conduct negotiations with RMT and now he’s ordering them to fire and re-hire workers.

“The minister also appears to be increasingly desperate and out-of-touch making wild claims about train services between London and Manchester without having a clue what is actually happening.

“Instead of threatening to cut thousands of safety-critical jobs, introducing driver-only trains, closing ticket offices, bailing out the private rail companies as well as bringing in more anti-union laws the government and the employers should enter meaningful negotiations with RMT,” he said.