08.06.1995

RMT against poverty pay

Other railworkers were not drawn into the signal workers’ strike. This time we need to make sure it is a united fight

IT IS becoming more likely that the rail unions will take industrial action over pay. Both RMT and Aslef have rejected BR’s revised pay offer of three percent. This is hardly surprising, because the amount of redundancy throughout the railway industry has meant that the remaining workers have had to increase productivity by a staggering 26.8%. Train miles per staff member rose by 5.2 percent in 1994.

In June BR will announce record profits of £400 million - up from £23 million last year. This has led BR to announce that the financial results were “the best all-round performance ever”. Operating expenses fell by 10.6% in real terms in 1994, and will fall further because of further planned redundancies. Twenty-four thousand jobs have already been shed since 1992.

In 1994 alone BR’s wage bill fell by £168 million. This is enough to give an increase across the board of 7.75% in 1995 on productivity only. Rail bosses have already benefited. In 1994 they got executive bonuses totalling 21% of their combined salaries. Ordinary railworkers on the other hand have seen a downward spiral in wages. In 1990 a railworker’s basic wage was worth 84% of the wages of the average industrial labourer. This has fallen to 76% in 1995.

A Leeds University study has found that BR workers have the “fastest rate of productivity in Europe”. However their wages have fallen badly behind. Wages in Germany for example are 75% higher. In Italy they are 52% higher and in France and Holland they are 24% higher. BR workers worked on average 967 hours per year more than their German counterparts. This is obviously to make ends meet.

With inflation already at 3.4% the RMT executive have rightly called for a minimum increase of six percent. This is a very modest amount indeed, considering the facts already stated, and will do nothing to rectify the problem of low pay in our industry.

Co-ordinated action with Aslef is a necessity to win a de-cent wage for all railworkers. We must not let the capitalists fatten up our industry to feed to the sharks circling around for the privatisation feast. This year will be the last time railworkers can vote nationally by law for action. We must seize the opportunity to gain a decent wage and, more importantly, to scupper the massive attack on our jobs and conditions, which is looming in the form of privatisation.

RMT member, London