SERCO in line for £300,000 of public money for losses arising from planned RMT strike
By Sean Robertson
In a scandal and what the rail union RMT described as a ‘Taxpayer funded bung’, it has been revealed today that SERCO, the operator of the Caledonian Sleeper service, is to be paid £300,000 for income lost during a strike set to place next week. RMT members on the service are due to strike for 48 hours beginning at 6.30pm on December 22nd.
The blame for the strike lies squarely at SERCO’s door. The RMT-led action is designed to fight back against neglect by the company which has left rolling-stock of carriages in a state of disrepair that could be potentially dangerous to both staff and passengers.
Serious faults reported by the union include disconnected smoke alarms, faulty heating and lighting among up to 200 other health, safety and passenger comfort concerns. Unsafe carriages have been condemned and taken out of service at short notice.
Striking for safety is in everyone’s best interest. Yet under arcane rail privatisation rules, private rail companies can claim compensation for industrial action irrespective of who is to blame for the dispute. In this case, it’s clear that the blame can be laid squarely at SERCO’s door.
RMT have calculated that SERCO’s reward for failure amounts to £300,000 for revenue lost during the planned 48-hour dispute.
Worryingly, given the obvious safety concerns that issues like faulty smoke alarms represent, it appears that the SNP government in Holyrood has already made arrangement for compensation with SERCO in advance of the strike ballot. Within minutes of the result being known, the company cancelled all services for the strike period.
If the Scottish government compensates SERCO for lost revenue because of a strike caused by grave and genuine safety concerns, it will represent a shameful reward for the company for their abject failure to deliver for staff and passengers.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:
“There can be no justification whatsoever for the taxpayer picking up the tab for “lost revenues” to a company whose failures and penny-pinching have led to this dispute in the first place. Any such move would be a kick in the teeth for the taxpayer and RMT is calling on the Scottish Government to have nothing to do with it.
“It is SERCO’s poor service to passengers, in conjunction with the company’s failure to address the issues raised by RMT representatives and officials in recent talks, that has led to this dispute and if their revenues are going to ring-fenced from the public purse, whether they run trains or not, then there is no incentive at all for them to start talking seriously about a resolution.”
“SERCO is a company who are specialists in failure when it comes to public sector contracts and RMT has no intention of allowing them to get away with compromising the safety of staff and passengers on the sleeper service or being kept afloat on a sea of corporate welfare.”
This dispute, as well as events like the closure of the Forth Road Bridge and the climate conference in Paris, have brought in to clear focus the need for a properly funded, high quality and safe publicly-owned transport system which meets the need of Scotland in the modern world. The SNP had the chance to move towards this last year when the Scotrail franchise was up for grabs. Ironically they turned down the chance to effectively nationalise the service, giving it instead to a Dutch state owned firm.
More at www.rmt.org.uk
