RMT welcomes rail companies brought under Great British Rail

As of yesterday (Sunday 1st February), London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway have become publicly owned in the UK, bringing the country one step closer to a simpler, unified rail system under the umbrella of Great British Railways. These operators are now publicly owned under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act.

“The thousands of passengers who travel with London Northwestern and West Midlands Railway will use publicly owned services, with their interests in mind. We are working hard to reform a fragmented system and deliver a reliable railway that revitalises communities, rebuilds passenger confidence and delivers the high standards they rightly expect,” said Transport Minister Heidi Alexander.

RMT welcomed the services being brought under Great British Railways on Sunday but insisted outsourced workers must not be left behind.

RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said:

Bringing these services back into public ownership is welcome but it is not right that outsourced staff will not enjoy the benefits of being brought into Great British Railways.

The Labour government has committed to delivering the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation and that promise must now be honoured.

Outsourced cleaning, catering, and other frontline jobs should be brought in-house, ending this super exploitation that has driven down pay, worsened conditions and led to huge amounts of money leaking out of the industry into shareholders pockets.

A publicly owned integrated railway should directly employ the staff who keep it running, reinvesting money back into services instead of leaking it out in private profit to unscrupulous private contractors.