RAIL UNION RMT today accused Network Rail of misleading successive Transport Secretaries over the threat of compulsory redundancies to rail maintenance workers.
Earlier this year, RMT received a letter from previous Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon saying that he had been given an assurance by Network Rail that there were no plans for job losses.
A similar assurance was given to RMT's parliamentary group last month by current Transport Secretary Lord Adonis. He told the group that he had been advised by Network Rail that there would be no compulsory redundancies as part of the current maintenance staff reduction programme that has left nearly 1500 permanent posts under threat.
But in the minutes of a Transport Select Committee meeting from two weeks ago, Network Rail Chief Executive Iain Coucher is quoted as saying:
"I am not party to what the Secretary of State writes, but what we have made quite clear is if we want to reduce the running of the railway, which we do, we will have to let people go. I have said publicly that we will try and minimise the amount of compulsory redundancies but there are parts of the country where that simply will not be possible."
Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said today:
"RMT members out on the rail network want to know exactly what is going on. One minute Network Rail are telling ministers there will be no compulsory redundancies and the next minute they are telling the Select Committee that there will be. This is an outrageous way to behave and our members are rightly angry at being treated with such contempt.
"RMT is calling for an urgent intervention by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis to stop this nonsense and to get a copper-bottomed guarantee from Network Rail that they will stick to their original commitment to no compulsory redundancies. No one should be under any illusions. If our rail maintenance members are threatened with being thrown on to the dole queue we will not hesitate to ballot for action."
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