East Midlands Railways strike for safety

Alistair Tice reports from Sheffield

RMT members across East Midlands Railways (EMR) were on strike on 1 and 8 August, demanding faulty trains are immediately withdrawn. Despite numerous protests by the union, the bosses are keeping trains with dangerous faults in service.

Socialist Party members supported the pickets outside Sheffield station each time and will again on 15 August.

RMT members are taking industrial action because EMR are rolling out a new fleet of ‘810’ trains which have shown a significant number of dangerous faults. In particular, if an 810 fails due to a fault it requires a full 20-minute re-set, which leaves the train with no active safety system, including loss of communication between drivers, dispatchers and trackside.

Pickets told us there had been 16 breakdowns in a month! On the first strike day, a train broke down at Nottingham and had to be taken out of service. An RMT rep said working to rule meant that members had refused to take out a faulty train that was so bad that even the ‘contingency staff’ refused to bring it back!

It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. Apparently, the air conditioning provides on-train showers!

RMT demands that the 810s are taken out of service until all faults are rectified. But EMR has refused.

EMR is due to be taken into publicly owned Great British Railways next year, but this has been delayed due to the faults and dispute. The Socialist Party says that these health and safety issues are another reason why the government should immediately renationalise the whole network, under workers’ control, including the rolling stock companies (ROSCOs) and Utilities, which have made millions of pounds in profits and shareholder dividends since rail privatisation in the 1990s.

As Keir Chewings, RMT NEC member for the Midlands, explains in an RMT video: “We didn’t choose this dispute, we spent months trying to resolve it. Our members are taking action because they believe safety must always come before performance figures.”

Rail Gourmet and Bidvest Noonan catering and cleaning staff fight for decent pay and to end outsourcing

Elaine Brunskill, Northern region Socialist Party

Catering staff at Rail Gourmet and cleaners at Bidvest Noonan, members of the RMT transport union who work as outsourced workers at Transpennine Express (TPE), took 48 hours of strike action from 31 July.

As well as fighting for decent pay and conditions, these workers also want their jobs to be brought inhouse, to end outsourcing.

On the picket line in Newcastle there was huge anger expressed towards the outsourcing companies, and towards TPE, which is happy to outsource this work and thereby give workers worse wages and conditions than if they were directly employed.

Strikers also commented that the companies were continually wanting to “add loads of extra tasks without any extra pay”.

One of the strikers explained how they had taken strike action in 2023. Out of this strike the Rail Gourmet employers agreed to a ‘roadmap’, so that by the end of 2025 workers would be on £15 an hour. This has not happened. Anger was expressed by one striker who, to cheers from others, shouted “Hate Gourmet!”

Strikers also expressed the hope that in the future there would be more consultation from the union over pay negotiations.

We handed out copies of the Red Line, produced by RMT members in the Socialist Party, and leaflets from the National Shop Stewards Network. Both put forward the message that ‘We’re not paying for the bosses crisis’. Many of the strikers not only read the leaflets, but also put them in their pockets, hopefully to be re-read later.

The mood on the picket line was really good, and strikers we spoke to made it clear they were ‘standing together’. They were also getting loads of support from passing motorists – particularly from bus and taxi drivers, alongside vans with workers in.

We also send solidarity greetings to the other picket lines in this dispute in Carlisle, Edinburgh Waverly, Glasgow Central, Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly.

Liverpool Merseyrail cleaners strike over low pay

Frank Bowen and Steve Ion of Liverpool and Merseyside Socialist Party interviewed Jimmy Brown, North West RMT regional organiser, on the Liverpool picket line

RMT members who work as cleaners for MerseyRail are employed by contractor Churchill Services. They are taking strike action over low pay.

The RMT believes Churchill can improve the low pay offer, as the company had a post-tax profit of £15.3 million and gave dividends to shareholders of £13.5 million. The company’s highest director received £603,000.

The UK Real Living Wage is already built into the cleaning contract between Merseyrail and Churchill Services and is therefore funded through the contract by Merseyrail.

The issue in dispute is not the payment of the Real Living Wage itself, but Churchill’s refusal to maintain the long-standing 20p-per-hour differential above it, that employees previously received under the former contractor, Mitie.

During the current pay negotiations, the RMT has asked Churchill to fund and restore this 20p-per-hour. However, the company has so far declined to do so.

In addition, there is no extra financial recompense for members who work late shifts, as they pay the same hourly rate for all shifts.

To resolve the union’s claim would only cost the company £18,000 over 12 months. Instead, due to pressure from the action, so far they have offered an increase of 10p per hour, which has been rejected by the union.

Churchill cleaners working in Washington local rail service are paid above the full Real Living Wage, so clearly there is a precedent for the workers in Liverpool to be paid the same.

Members work diligently and are committed to do the best job they can, despite regular occurrences of cleaning machinery being in disrepair. Also concerns remain over a lack of PPE equipment and working with hazardous chemicals, as well as over inadequate testing of equipment.

The RMT is also in parallel discussions with the metro mayor over bringing Merseyrail into public ownership, which the pickets support.

Solidarity to the RMT Liverpool Merseyrail Churchill Cleaners!