Rail union, RMT will hold a day of action against cuts to railway maintenance, infrastructure and renewals work on Thursday.

Network Rail is planning £1.2bn of cuts over the next 5 years to track and infrastructure renewals work, following the government decision to axe the public company’s budget.

If the cuts go ahead, there will be an increased risk to public safety, railway workers and overall efficiency of the service.

Rail infrastructure includes signalling, drainage, earthworks, level crossings and track – all of which are critical to the safe and reliable running of trains on the network.

Union activists are leafleting over 20 stations across the country on Thursday as part of RMT’s ‘Rail Cuts Cost Lives’ campaign, informing the public of the dangers posed by Network Rail’s plans. 

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Network Rail’s plans to cut over a billion pounds on railway renewals work jeopardizes safety for rail workers and passengers.

“Our railway infrastructure needs to be maintained and improved which can only happen by increasing investment, not cuts.

“We’ve already had reports of cracked rails, problems with drainage and recent extreme weather events which in 2020 led to the Carmont rail disaster.

“We cannot afford to allow the railway to be less safe which is why we will be campaigning to reverse these cuts throughout the country on Thursday and in the coming weeks and months ahead.”

The post UK: Network Rail Jeopardizes Safety in Cost Cutting Drive appeared first on Labor Today.

From MorningStar | Picture Courtesy of MorningStar

HUNDREDS of trade unionists disrupted operations at an arms factory in Kent on Friday, blockading entrances and preventing workers and deliveries from entering the site.

More than 400 activists targeted a factory belonging to BAE Systems, a key weapons supplier to Israel, in protest over the country’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza.

United under the banner “Workers for a Free Palestine,” members of Unite, Unison, GMB, NEU, BMA, UCU, Bectu, and BFAWU, halted operations and called for an immediate ceasefire.

BAE Systems, the largest weapons firm in Britain, manufactures components for Israel’s F-35 stealth combat aircraft.

The fighter jets are currently being used in ongoing attacks against innocent civilians in Gaza, where the death toll has risen to more than 10,000.

Notably, the “active interceptor system,” which is used by pilots to direct and manoeuvre the aircraft, is also produced at the site in Kent.

Alexandra, a teacher and NEU member taking part in the blockade, said: “Seeing 185 schools and other educational institutions in Gaza bombed is utterly heartbreaking.

“If our government and the Labour opposition won’t support a ceasefire, as workers we will continue to take action to stop the slaughter of civilians in our name, funded by our taxes.

“The British arms industry, which is subsidised by public money, is involved in the mass killing of Palestinians.

“We’re here today to disrupt the Israeli war machine and take a stand against our government’s complicity and we urge workers across the UK to take similar action.”

The blockade, part of an International Day of Action against Israel’s war crimes, echoes a surge in worker-led interventions worldwide.

In the US and Australia, workers have actively disrupted shipments of arms bound for Israel, while trade unionists in Belgium and Barcelona have refused to load military equipment intended for the country.

And an anticipated half a million will further amplify the resounding display of solidarity as they flood the streets of London tomorrow for the National March for Palestine.

According to one of the organisers Stop the War, coach companies said they’d sold out of seats on hundreds of buses as thousands from around the country make their way to join the march.

Stop the War convener Lindsey German called the mobilisation “comparable only to the two million-strong protest against the Iraq War in 2003.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has vowed to clamp down on widespread ceasefire rallies since Israel escalated its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas’s deadly attacks killed 1,400 on October 7.

Ms Braverman suggested that waving Palestinian flags and chanting pro-Palestine slogans could be illegal under the Public Order Act, and branded rallies calling for a ceasefire “hate marches.”

Writing in The Times, Braverman suggested “some of Saturday’s march group organisers have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas.”

In the article, Braverman accused the Metropolitan Police of playing favourites, and stopping far-right protests while allowing “pro-Palestine mobs” to demonstrate.

Stop the War said that Braverman’s attempt to claim that police have a left-wing bias “is a clear call to street thugs to ‘step in’ and do the job the police are supposedly ‘unable’ to do.”

Ms German called the move “straight out of the Donald Trump playbook.”

The protest takes place the same day as Armistice Day. While the Royal British Legion has defended pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ right to protest, the far-right Democratic Football Lads Alliance issued a call to arms on social media.

A post on the group’s Facebook page said: “Vets have reached out and asked for our support due to the threat from the far-left and pro-Palestinian supporters to disrupt the Remembrance Day parade.

“We are calling on all football lads up and down the country to join us in standing shoulder to shoulder with our veterans that fought for our freedom.”

Baroness Warsi, a Tory peer accused Ms Braverman of couching the planned demonstration as an “armistice day vs a hate march.”

Ben Jamal, director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which is also organising tomorrow’s march, said: “Contrary to the disgraceful rhetoric of Suella Braverman and other political leaders, hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life, will come to London to march for peace, for a ceasefire, and for the rights of the Palestinian people to be respected.

“They reject a narrative that seeks to dehumanise Palestinians and their legitimate struggle for freedom.

“They are appalled by the mass killing of Palestinians including 4,500 children, and they want an end to British complicity in supporting Israel’s decades long violations of international law.”

Palestine’s health ministry says 11,078 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, and over 50 per cent of housing units across the area have been damaged since the escalation began.

An Amnesty International petition demanding an immediate ceasefire has gained more than a million signatures.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, said: “Outraged over the devastating toll on civilians, a global chorus of Amnesty International members and supporters are calling for the protection of all civilians at risk by signing our petition to demand an immediate ceasefire by all parties to the conflict.

“The only way to prevent further loss of civilian lives and allow lifesaving aid to reach those in desperate need in Gaza is for states to act now to demand an immediate ceasefire by all parties to the conflict in the occupied Gaza Strip.”

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SEAFARERS UNION RMT remembers the 44 victims of the MV Derbyshire tragedy on the 43rd anniversary of the sinking of the UK registered Bulk Carrier in the South China Sea on 9 September 1980 with the loss of all hands, including two wives of crew members.

MV Derbyshire is the biggest British registered merchant ship ever to have been lost at sea.

Built in 1976, it was an oil/bulk/ore (OBO) carrier.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said:

“RMT pays tribute to the forty-two seafarers and two passengers who lost their lives when the MV Derbyshire was overwhelmed by Typhoon Orchid south of Japan on this day in 1980. Members of the National Union of Seaman, many from the Derbyshire’s home city of Liverpool were amongst those lost and this remains the largest UK flagged ship lost during peacetime.

“43 years on it is important that we continue to remember those who died on the MV Derbyshire and support the friends and families of those who lost their lives.

“Our condolences go out to the families and we continue to support the MV Derbyshire Families Association. The trade union funded search for the Derbyshire, conducted in 1994, led to a series of safety improvements in the international shipping industry and, crucially, absolved the crew from unjust blame for the cause of this tragedy.

“Shockingly, due to the Deregulation Act 2015 introduced by the Conservative led Government, it is now almost impossible to re-open investigations into maritime accidents like the Derbyshire. This insult to the memories of those lost on the Derbyshire must be reversed.”

“This was a shocking tragedy that serves as yet another reminder of the constant battle for maritime safety. “

Ends.



Notes for editors


1. The Derbyshire was a modern commercial vessel (built 1976), fully equipped and well-managed ore-bulk-oil (OBO) combination carrier, en route to Japan from Canada with a cargo of iron ore. At over 91,000 gross tonnage the Derbyshire remains the largest UK registered ship to have been lost at sea.

2. All on board, 42 crew and two passengers (wives of crew members), lost their lives. The crew and passengers were all UK nationals, many from the Derbyshire’s home port of Liverpool. Many were members of the National Union of Seaman.

3. RMT supports the MV Derbyshire Families Association.

4. In the period when the Derbyshire was lost and before the lessons were learnt from the finding of the Derbyshire, bulk carrier class vessels had a poor safety record. At the time, bulk carriers only accounted for 7% of the world fleet but accounted for 57% of lost ships. In the 22 years between 1975 and 1997, 378 bulk carriers were lost (including the Derbyshire) with the loss of over 1,300 seafarers’ lives.

5. A subsea search for the Derbyshire, funded by RMT, Nautilus and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), was conducted in the Pacific Ocean in May 1994 with the wreck of the Derbyshire discovered on the last day of the search, lying on the seabed at 4,200m.

6. The UK Government consistently refused to re-open the initial investigation into the causes of the loss of the Derbyshire and it was only a union-funded search for the vessel in the 1990s, combined with the Duty in the 1995 Act (introduced by the Conservative Government of the day) that established the necessary evidence and the legal obligation on Government to re-open the investigation.

7. The subsequent investigation not only absolved the crew from any blame for the loss of the vessel but led to significant improvements in the safe operation of bulk carrier class ships, as well as vital developments in the understanding of the mechanics of destructive waves generated under typhoon conditions.

8. As a result of the Derbyshire investigation being re-opened, 22 recommendations for improving shipping safety were made by the UK Government between 1998 and 2001, all of which have been subsequently adopted by the International Maritime Organisation.

9. The Deregulation Act 2015 abolished the duty in the Merchant Shipping Act on the Transport Secretary to order re-hearing of marine accident investigations in light of new evidence. This power was exercised in 1998 to re-open the investigation into the MV Derbyshire tragedy in 1980, after nearly 20 years of campaigning by families and trade unions, including NUS, RMT, Nautilus and ITF. The abolition was opposed by the maritime unions and by the Parliamentary Labour Party during the passage of legislation but the Government rejected amendments that would have prevented this.

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RAIL UNION RMT calls for an end to continual cuts to rail maintenance and renewals after Network Rail was fined £6.7 million at the High Court in Aberdeen today (Friday, September 8) for safety failings which led to the Carmont disaster.

The company in charge of rail infrastructure in Britain admitted to health and safety failings over the rail crash at Carmont near Stonehaven three years ago which claimed three lives.

A Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report concerning the train derailment caused by poor drainage work made 20 recommendations to improve rail safety which have been largely ignored. 

Network Rail initially agreed to create drainage teams to deal with issues that caused the derailment but it has since abandoned the plans claiming that it does not have to do it. 

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that although NR had admitted guilt over failings in construction, inspection and maintenance of drainage assets it was still planning widespread cuts to maintenance and renewals.

“The company has already effectively ignored most of the recommendations made by the RAIB and now it is cutting back on maintenance, renewals and drainage work.

“Instead of fining the publicly-funded body, Network Rail should be forced to halt the culture of continual cutbacks which will are inevitably leading to a more dangerous railway,” he said. 

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