30.01.09
Unions call for government action to halt damaging rail cuts
Unions representing more than 100,000 rail workers have urged the government to use its financial control over the industry to impose a moratorium on cuts in jobs, services and infrastructure maintenance and renewal.
In a letter to transport secretary Geoff Hoon RMT, TSSA and ASLEF also call for a freeze on dividends, with profits instead invested to protect services and jobs, and urge the government to run the industry in a way that helps the economy to weather the recession (full text below).
“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 today.
“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,” Bob Crow said.
Gerry Doherty, leader of the TSSA, said: “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 said: “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,” Keith Norman said.
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