UK NEWS

NATIONAL RAIL CHAOS LOOMS AFTER SECOND UNION VOTES FOR WALKOUT OVER JOB CUTS

Railway union members demonstrate in central London yesterday against job cuts

Saturday March 13,2010

By John Ingham

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BRITAIN’S rail network faces its first national strike in 14 years just in time for Easter after a second union voted for a walkout in a row over job cuts.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association said yesterday that members working as Network Rail supervisors voted 56 per cent in favour of strikes and 77 per cent in support of industrial action short of a strike.

On Thursday the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers announced that its Network Rail maintenance workers had voted for industrial action.

The RMT said that 77 per cent of its members who took part in the ballot backed strikes, with 89 per cent supporting action short of a strike.

No strike dates will be announced before next Friday when the RMT will reveal the result of another ballot among Network Rail signal workers.

The disputes centre on Network Rail’s drive to make savings of £5billion over five years.

The company’s plans include axing 1,500 jobs from a maintenance workforce of 15,000.

And yesterday the RMT and TSSA members demonstrated outside Network Rail’s London headquarters, claiming the cuts put safety at risk.

TSSA leader Gerry Doherty, who attended the joint demonstration with RMT leader Bob Crow, said: “It is not too late for Network Rail to listen to its workforce and the rail regulator, who said last week that their proposed changes could endanger safety.

“The regulator warned Iain Coucher (Network Rail chief executive) not to impose change on the workforce but consult with them instead. He should drop his macho management style and start serious discussions with us to solve this problem.”

Network Rail maintained that the vast majority of job cuts would be achieved through voluntary redundancy.

The company said it needed to change working practices so that more staff worked at weekends to make repairs and maintenance more efficient – to stamp out decades-old “Spanish practices” on the rail network.

The company says it already has 1,000 volunteers for redundancy and promises no compulsory job losses this year.

It says it has contingency plans to deal with any strikes over Easter.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We don’t want a strike – we want to talk and find a solution for TSSA’s members.

“They have concerns and we want to address them despite the union failing to get a mandate from its members for strike action.

“This company needs to modernise how it goes about its daily work of looking after the railway infrastructure and we want to take our people and the union with us to help deliver an even better railway for everyone.

“Work practices that date back to the steam age should no longer have a place on a modern railway.

“We all have a duty to get best value for the British people whilst running a safe, reliable and efficient rail network.

“We cannot allow the unions to hold this country to ransom,” the spokesman added.

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WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THESE IDIOTS...

13.03.10, 3:01pm

......striking to get your own way is over. Sit down with the Management and TALK, that is what you are getting paid for. Management should lay their plans down on the table and the Unions should work with them to make the plans happen

• Posted by: Disgruntled • Report Comment

ALL ABOARD THE TU SUICIDE EXPRESS

13.03.10, 12:59pm

It's catching on now isn't it ?
The Civil Servants and Local Government staff are up for it, even after securing a 15% higher pay increase that the private sector average during Labour's period in office and being virtually alone in retaining gold plated final-salary pensions that we pay for; BA Cabin Crew are up for it despite being the highest paid cabin crew of all airlines; and now the railway workers have thrown their hat into the ring as well.
None of them - least of all the latterday Arthur Scargill clones leading them - seem to understand that economies and cuts are necessary throughout all employment sectors to get out of the financial mess Brown has got the country into.
But carry on lads - you're doing a great job of causing political problems for Labour and ensuring that the Tories get elected in May !

• Posted by: TrevorD • Report Comment

WHEN WILL THESE IDIOTS LEARN...

13.03.10, 11:43am

..that by alienating the travelling public, demanding more than their fair share or compromising the operations of their employer they will only incur further job losses.

The unions are rattling their cages again now that they perceive the possibility of a weak labour government surviving.

Who will want to invest in the UK if the unions get their way?

• Posted by: AuntyBrown • Report Comment