RMT urges LNER not to ignore ‘systemic racism’ on rail services

RAIL union RMT has urged state owned London North Eastern Railway (LNER) to stop turning a blind eye to systemic racism in its supply chain and end low pay on its outsourced contracts.

The revelations came before crunch talks at ACAS between RMT and Gate Solutions, which holds a contract to supply food to LNER’s trains, before strike action planned for next Friday (November 13).

The union has sent LNER its new report exposing how LNER’s outsourcing contracts create occupational segregation for ethnic minority workers.

The research reveals that ethnic minority workers are four time more likely to be on one of LNER’s outsourcing contracts than directly employed.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that RMT research had exposed the dark truth about outsourcing which sustained systemic racism by locking workers into de-skilled, low paid jobs.

The Transport Secretary says that she wants Great British Railways to be an employer of choice and that must mean an end to outsourcing. LNER needs to settle this pay dispute and discuss how to implement the government’s insourcing policy.

You can read the RMT’s report, ‘Systemic racism and corporate washing at LNER’ here.