The News Line: Editorial
Monday, 7 September 2009
London Midland drivers fight wage cut
LONDON MIDLAND drivers have refused to work voluntary overtime on Sundays after the company cut their pay for the day to single time.
The rail company is trying to make use of the current economic climate to cut the drivers’ wages and is prepared to see thousands of Sunday passengers greatly inconvenienced to do so. All the company said yesterday was that it was prepared to put on Sunday buses where possible.
The company has now warned passengers because of this crisis – of their own making – not to attempt to travel by train.
Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT) said the move was not an organised action by workers but a case of the contractual right not to work being exercised. He said: ‘Their contracts of employment say they haven’t got to work on a Sunday. It’s their choice.’
Mark Pritchard, a Tory MP and a member of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee, said London Midland made commitments to win its franchise and it should keep them. ‘Hundreds of Midlands people use their trains for business and leisure. London Midland need to pay their staff a fair wage to work anti-social hours – and get the trains moving again,’ he said.
In fact, all rail grades on London Midland are now paid a single rate for overtime on Sunday.
If London Midland is not prepared to pay the rate for the job, then it is not serious about running a satisfactory rail service. Its franchise must be withdrawn by Network Rail and its business renationalised.
In fact, since their inception, the privatised rail networks have proven to be a huge drain on the public purse, with their constant need for bigger and bigger state subsidies. The whole of the rail network must be renationalised and put under workers’ control.
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