RAIL union RMT yesterday slammed the government for ‘presiding over a culture of private waste’ on the railways, calling for an end to the rail privatisation ‘rip-off’.
This came after new figures obtained by RMT parliamentary convenor John McDonnell revealed that the cost of designing and tendering rail franchises since 2003 is a staggering £75 million.
In a series of parliamentary questions John McDonnell had attempted to find out the full costs of franchising since privatisation in 1996.
The RMT said: ‘Incredibly, the government have been unable to provide financial information between 1996 and 2003 but in a parliamentary answer transport minister Chris Mole has confirmed that the price of private rail franchising to the public purse between 2003-2005 was £42.4 million and between 2005-2009 was £33.8 million.’
The RMT has released the new financial information exactly two months after the East Coast Mainline franchise was seized back from National Express and taken in to public ownership.
The union yesterday renewed its call for an end to the ‘expense, waste, disruption and fragmentation of rail privatisation.’
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: ‘Tens of millions of pounds that could have been invested in the rail network has been squandered on drawing up and tendering train operating franchises.
‘When you add in the hundreds of millions soaked up in public subsidies by the train operating companies, and the huge amounts extracted from the system in profits, dividends and bonuses, we can see the epic scale of the publicly-funded rip-off which is rail privatisation.
‘While precious resources are being wasted on propping up the failed policy of rail privatisation nearly 1,500 safety-critical rail maintenance jobs are being threatened with the axe.
‘That’s the distorted priorities of the current UK rail system – unlimited funds to keep privatisation afloat while safety is compromised out on the tracks in a dash for cuts.’
• The RMT confirmed yesterday that it is balloting all London Underground (Metronet) members covered by the Signals Framework Agreement for strike action and action short of a strike in a dispute over the imposition of new rosters, breaches of agreements and the handing over of work to external contractors.
The ballot for action, which closes on 19th January, will involve 750 staff on the former Metronet sections of the tube network – all lines except for the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee.
The RMT accused London Underground management of unilaterally ripping up agreements, bulldozing through shift patterns and threatening job security through increased use of outside contractors.
RMT General Secretary Crow said: ‘LUL seem to be hell-bent on confrontation by tearing up the Signals Framework Agreement and by unilaterally introducing new working practices which mean they can make people work what hours they like, when they like.
‘On top of that, our members’ job security is being undermined by the handing over of work to external private contractors which could be done internally.
‘If LUL management think that they can ride roughshod over our terms and conditions then they need to think again. It’s their bully-boy management style which has forced us into this dispute and RMT is calling for a strong YES vote for action.’