British rail union demands an end to privatisation of the railways

5 May 2005

Britain’s biggest rail union has launched a campaign to bring the country’s railways back into public ownership, as part of a ten-point plan for the next ten years.

The “manifesto” of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), launched on 28 April against a backdrop of a British general election campaign, calls for measures to usher in a “golden age” of the railways. These include renationalising the rail industry - Britain’s rail industry was privatised in the mid-1990s; introducing a windfall tax on the excess profits of rolling-stock companies; and bringing forward legislation to end public-private partnership in the capital city’s underground system.

These measures, claims the manifesto, would release funds totalling £10.5 billion (US$20 billion) over the next ten years, which could be reinvested in the public transport network, helping, for example, to save 56 community rail lines around the country, which are currently under threat, and staff some 1,000 un-staffed stations.

“Privatisation means that huge resources are being taken out of the railway industry and that rail is in a downward spiral of service cuts, job losses and ludicrously expensive fares,” said Bob Crow, General Secretary of the ITF-affiliated RMT and member of the ITF Executive Board.

“Renationalisation will actually save the taxpayer billions of pounds, which can be diverted back into the treasury and used for social benefit,” he added.

Twenty-five RMT marchers, driving home the anti-privatisation message, who left Glasgow, Scotland, in the middle of the month, were welcomed into London on 30 April.

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