In Will Hay’s classic film ‘Oh, Mr Porter!’ the new stationmaster arrives to
be greeted at Buggleskelly ticket office with the words “Next train gone.” For thousands
of travelers on themodern day farce of London Midland network last Sunday it was a case of “No
trains coming.”
Incredibly it seems that London Midland operate their network on the basis
of employing no one to work on a Sunday. Instead they rely on volunteer workers
prepared to come in and work an extra shift in order to run the service on that
day.
However, those coming in had been paid at overtime rates. London Midland
have been engaged in a long standing fight with the unions to get Sunday
included in the staffing rosters but, naturally, at no extra cost to the
employers. Having discovered that not actually employing a full roster of staff
to cover Sunday may well have saved money but also left them open to staff
shortage problems, the operators were keen to rectify the flaw in their setup
but without increasing their wage bill.
After an attempt to force new rosters on staff last spring was met with
strike action, which in turn was stopped by a legal challenge from the
employers, the existing arrangement was allowed to continue – until last Sunday
that is. On that day staff were offered Sunday working but at normal rates of
pay. This broke a long standing setup which has existed throughout the whole of
the rail network going back to the days of British rail by which Sunday working
– even if rostered – has been paid at
overtime rates. Some firms have removed this arrangement by offering new staff
higher basic pay rates but London Midland assumed cutting overtime rates by 50%
would do the trick instead! Needless to
say, most staff decided to spend the Sunday with their families and friends,
hence the total collapse of the network. Only the Birmingham
to Liverpool line ran any trains.
Here we once again see the total madness of the privatized rail system. Train
operators guzzle up huge subsidies from the government and try and find one
means after another to get extra money from us whilst running a crap service. One
recent trick they have used is to change the status of fares to avoid regulation price caps
and bump up the cost of tickets. For example, according to The Telegraph of
Sept 7th: ‘…the rises by East Midlands Trains have pushed up the
cost for passengers travelling to London
from Market Harborough, Kettering and Wellingborough. As a result of the new
restrictions anyone arriving in the capital between 9.45 and 10.06am, will see
their fares increase from £37.50, £36.50 and £35.50 to £92.00, £82.00 and
£78.00 respectively.’
Disputes are continuing to break out all over the national rail system as
employers try and undermine existing conditions or get away with poor pay settlements.
The National Express East Anglia (NXEA)
network is now facing renewed action from ASLEF following a series of two day
strikes which hit the Liverpool
Street based network during the summer. The action
is set to start on September 21st and last five days.
Meanwhile having totally misjudged the mood of its workers, London Midland has
had to backtrack on their plan and have reinstated the overtime rates for now.
The call should be clear. Rail privatization has failed – it has meant huge
profits for the operating firms and chaos for passengers. The whole rail system
should be renationalized without delay and with no compensation for the old
operators – they have made enough out of us already. The railways could then be
run as part of a planned socialist transport system for the benefit of all. The
Labour government should have done this years ago. They should do it now.
