RMT condemns Stagecoach attack on jobs as rail revenues soar

March 16, 2009

RMT condemns Stagecoach attack on jobs as rail revenues soar

PLANS BY the Stagecoach group to cut nearly 1,000 rail workers jobs on South West Trains and East Midlands Trains were condemned today by Britain’s biggest rail union as the transport privateer announced a 6.7 per cent jump in rail revenues since October.

RMT, which is fighting redundancies across the industry, has urged ministers to ensure that rail companies that have made huge profits from the railways since privatisation do not slash staff and services simply to protect dividend payouts to shareholders.

“With rail revenue still growing it is an utter disgrace that Stagecoach wants to axe nearly 1,000 staff at South West Trains and East Midlands Trains,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

“It is clear that Stagecoach’s priority is making huge profits, not providing a public service, and it is hell-bent on sacrificing the people who provide its services in order to enrich its shareholders.

“For the sake of the railway, jobs and the economy these franchises should be brought back into the public sector before the damage is done,” Bob Crow said.

For further information please contact Derek Kotz on o20 7529 8803 or 07939 595 092

Join the RMT and thousands of trade unionists on the March through London for Jobs, Social Justice and the Climate on Saturday 28th March. See link www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk or email the RMT mailto:a.gittins@rmt.org.uk for further information.