RAIL UNION RMT today called on the government to end the rail franchise circus as reports suggested that Stagecoach are considering a takeover bid for National Express just weeks before the company are due to have their East Coast Mainline franchise renationalised by the government.
Today, the Transport Select Committee branded the whole franchise system "a mess" and warned of more companies going bust in a mirror of the National Express East Coast fiasco.
On Thursday, the day that National Express are due to publish their interim results, RMT members on the companies East Anglia franchise will begin the first of four 48 hour strikes over pay, working conditions and the companies reorganisation.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today:
"The suggestion of a Stagecoach takeover bid for National Express shows that the big players are still playing with the rail franchises like they are some giant game of corporate pass the parcel with the travelling public and the workforce left holding the torn paper while the companies milk the system for all it's worth.
"National Express have made nearly half a billion in profits out of the railways in the past ten years and have sucked in £2.5 billion in public subsidies over the same period. With the collapse of their East Coast franchise that is reward for failure on a massive scale and it's no wonder our members on the East Anglia franchise are so angry that they are prepared to strike over a pitiful pay offer.
"Today's Transport Select Committee should signal the end of the rail franchise circus which rips off the travelling public and treats its workforce with contempt while raking in fat dividends for the shareholders.
"The franchise mess is beyond reform and the only serious solution is a return to public ownership of the entire rail system."
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