RMT Union First Great Western strike to protect jobs services and safety

On Wednesday the 8th of July at 6:30pm, railway staff organised in The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) across the First Great Western franchise started a 48 hour strike over the threatened loss of safety, services and jobs on the new Hitachi Intercity Express Trains.  The new high-speed Hitachi trains are replacing the old diesel powered fleet that has serviced the South West since the 1970s. The main cause of friction is First Great Western’s decision to remove the train guard and buffet cart (and catering staff) and run driver only trains, as well as a reduction in station dispatch and maintenance staff (and the potential outsourcing of train maintenance).  All of which will reduce the cost of running the services and increase First’s profits.  On the other side of the equation passengers will receive a reduced level of service, with much depressed safety standards, whilst skilled staff are tossed to one side and thrown into unemployment (a daunting prospect in austerity Britain).

These new trains are being rolled out on both the First Great Western and East Coast Mainline franchises.  Along the East Coast Mainline there is no dispute and no strike; as the franchise operator isn’t attacking jobs and services to further engorge their own profits.  First Great Western on the other hand has no such scruples.  Something the mainstream press coverage of the dispute seemingly forgets.  Whilst the Tory press screams about out of touch union militants bringing the country to a standstill and the BBC attempts to trivialise the whole episode into one of commuter disruptions devoid of context; just remember these are workers striking and losing two days’ worth of pay predominantly to protect safety standards for passengers as well as their own jobs.

Obviously the disruption caused to commuters is an annoyance, but it is to protect those very commuters that is motivating these workers to strike.  Left to their own devices First Great Western will gouge passengers for everything they have. An open return between Bristol and London has increased in price by 246% since privatisation 20 years ago (far far in excess of inflation).  At the same time railways as a whole have seen their subsidy from the taxpayer more than double; between 2011-2014 First Great Western alone received £959.8 million.  Passengers are paying the most expensive fares in Europe (and the tax payer’s coughing up huge sums) for substandard services, whilst the First Group makes huge profits and their chairman has increased his pay by 243% in the last 4 years (to £1.6 million).  No wonder they don’t think they can afford to pay for safety critical train guards and maintenance staff (and for a catering service to standard class passengers) when their chairman’s taking such a huge kickback.

With such obvious injustices leading to this dispute I went down to the RMT’s Bristol branch meeting that Wednesday night (after the People’s Assembly budget protest), to pass on the local party’s solidarity and speak a little about the centrality of the railways in our plans for a fairer sustainable society.  I was very well received (quiet charitably too as I did not speak my best, and definitely should have prepared something to say a lot more), even more so when I passed on a £60 donation from the Peoples Assembly to support the pickets.  This was money collected at the budget protest from ordinary Bristolians eager to support the striking workers (I made a very short speech on the megaphone outlining the causes of the dispute and the need to show solidarity, and was mobbed by people keen to help).

RMT members enjoying a hot cup of Solidari-Tea 9/7/15… that white powder in that bag is just sugar… honestly

I went down to the picket on Thursday morning to talk to the picketers and give them some Bristol Green Solidari-Tea and Coffee (still can’t think of an adequate pun…. maybe comradecoffee? no that won’t do).  It was an absolutely lovely day, and everyone seemed in high spirits.  Whilst I was there a semi-continuous stream of visitors/well wishers coming to show their support, and the response from the public seemed generally very positive.  Across the network around 2000 staff participating in the strike and reportedly First Great Western had to cancel 40% of their services.  There are reports that some of their other services were only kept running by forcing TSSA staff to do jobs “which they do not feel either qualified or confident to do” – which has led to the union also balloting its members for strike action. The RMT have just rejected FGW’s latest offer – which apparently still does nothing to address the key concerns for safety and jobs around the train guard and maintenance staff – and are planning future strike dates, and with the TSSA presently balloting for action, further strikes seem likely.

Should that happen we’ll be happy to support these workers taking a stand to protect their own jobs and all our safety, and we encourage everyone else to do so too.  In these hard times of austerity we need solidarity and compassion more than ever before.  Only by working together and magnifying the impact of each others struggles will we have any hope of resisting this repressive government’s attacks on ordinary people and our planet.

Bristol Action For Rail – Join us for a Publicly Owned and run railway!

On Monday the 5^th of January with about 30 others from The People’s Assembly, The Campaign Against Climate Change, the rail unions and The Bristol Green Party (who supplied the majority of the activists) we took to Temple Meads train station to protest yet another year of fare rises outstripping wages; and the whole iniquitous privatised system.  The clock had just struck 5pm and a great mass of people were rushing to get home from work.  At the pedestrian side entrance I was manning we were met by a solid and continuous stream of people; a great river of human beings rushing along their course.  We placed ourselves strategically to interrupt their flow.  After a long day’s work, as the light faded and the January cold set in you would think most people would be in too much of a hurry to pay much attention to a group of activists banging on about the relative strengths and weaknesses of different models of rail ownership – another obstacle between them and their home.  However, such is the strength of feeling against the current state of affairs on our railways that we were very well received.  We actually ran out of leaflets after an hour and a half – giving out around a thousand.  Only one person verbally refused me, explaining that she was ‘a conservative’.  Quite a few people even stopped to have fairly lengthy and engaging conversation with us – before rushing off for their train, or house.  Almost everyone seemed to regard us and our interruption of their commute positively.

According to recent polling by Yougov over 2/3^rds of people support Public Ownership of the railways; including a majority of conservative voters.  It’s easy to see why.  In 1993 when making the case for privatising the railways then transport secretary John MacGregor told the House of commons that it would not only shift the cost of the railways from the taxpayer onto the user but would do so whilst not increasing fares, and that “in many cases, they will be more flexible and will be reduced” as the magic of private competition increased efficiency and drove down cost.  The reality (as it usually is) is far removed from this rose tinted neoliberal fantasy.  Since 1994 subsidies to the rail industry have more than doubled, whilst fares have risen far more than inflation.  Far from shifting the cost form the taxpayer to the user, privatisation has greatly increased the cost to both groups whilst allowing unaccountable shareholders and boards of directors (usually on six figure salaries) to line their pockets at the expense of everyone else.  First Great Western took to twitter to attempt to refute my claims that their overcrowded and overpriced trains were the perfect advertisement for why we need Public Ownership.  They repeated this tired argument that fares were rising as a result of shifting the cost to the user.  When I pointed out that this simply wasn’t the case they had no argument to reply with

We have some of the highest fares in Europe; for the least reliable service.  The only positive achievement the advocates of private ownership can point too is an increase in passenger numbers over the last 20 years.  It’s hard to see how the fact that the railways were now owned privately instead of by the state would be likely to influence the average person into using them and directly lead to this increase in passenger numbers as the advocates of privatisation claim.  Structural changes to our society have fueled this change – chiefly the spiraling cost of rent and general inner city living which has priced many out of homes close to work and forced them to rely on trains.  If the trains were still publicly owned during this period but the same structural changes to employment and accommodation patterns had occurred we would have seen the exact same increase in passenger numbers, possibly more so as Public Ownership can deliver fairer fares.  Research by Transport for Quality of Life has shown that if the railways were Publicly Owned we could have the same service as we have today but by eliminating the wastages and inequities produced by a fragmented privately owned system we could have it for £1.2 billion less.  That would be enough to cut fares by around 20%.

Even if you do believe that competition between private companies automatically increases efficiency and drives down cost (which I’m personally extremely skeptical of) you have to recognise that this is not applicable to rail travel.  Different providers can compete for franchises, but once established they’re the only ones operating trains along that line.  It’s not as if I have a choice of services between Bristol and London.  I can only ‘choose’ First Great Western or to not get a train.  This is why they’re described as natural monopolies.

The choice is clear.  If you want a wasteful, inefficient rail system that enriches the few at the expense of the majority then do nothing, and stick with the status qou.  But if you want a fairer service that puts the people who use it above shareholder profit then you have to join the campaign for Public Ownership.  Caroline Lucas has a rail renationalisation Bill currently going through Parliament.  Its second reading is on February the 27^th.  Do everything you can to pressure your MP (your supposed representative) to attend Parliament that day and support it.  Unfortunately as none of the mainstream parties support Public Ownership (despite the wishes of their voters) it seems unlikely that the bill will become law.  That is why we need to mobilise behind campaigns like Action for Rail to show the strength of support for these measure, and come May, why we need to vote for MP’s and parties that support Public Ownership.

To raise awareness of and support for Public Ownership we will be protesting and leafleting at Temple Meads station on the first Monday of every month at 5-7pm for the foreseeable future.  Join us and demand the alternative to rip off fares and a failed, wasteful, and iniquitous privatised system.