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UK unions call for action to halt rail cuts
29 January 2009
Transport unions are urging the UK government to impose a moratorium on cuts in jobs, services and infrastructure maintenance and renewal across the rail industry.
The ITF-affiliated unions - the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) - sent a joint letter to the British Transport Secretary, Geoff Hoon, calling for the government to use its financial control to suspend the cuts. The unions, representing more than 100,000 railway workers, including workers at the infrastructure operator Network Rail, also demanded a freeze on dividends so that profits could instead be invested to protect jobs and services.
“Britain’s railways are a core industry that is too valuable to the economy and the environment to allow it to be vandalised for selfish short-term interests,” RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said. “The government has pledged to fight the recession with investment in public projects, and it should not allow itself to be used to subsidise redundancies in a key service whose purse strings it controls.”
Gerry Doherty, TSSA Leader, commented: “Passengers paid through the nose to ensure record profits for the rail companies during the boom. Now they want passengers and staff to pay for the bust with worse services and fewer jobs.”
ASLEF General Secretary Keith Norman added: “Network Rail’s proposal to impose huge cuts in track renewals and maintenance threatens to jeopardise the safety of the rail network.
“To play with passenger safety in such a way is nothing short of blackmail, but the government has the power to stop these cuts and it should do so.”
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