Rail union RMT has warned that the Queen’s Speech to be delivered to set up Great British Railways, the new state holding company for the UK’s rail infrastructure, will only deliver for private railway companies.
RMT general secretary Michael Lynch said that Go-Ahead Group’s Govia has already been rewarded with a three-year contract to run the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise in spite of being accused of breaching financial good faith by concealing money due to the public and minimising the risk of detection by the DfT.
“The government is attempting to revive the corpse of rail privatisation with its Railway’s Bill which will reward private train operators for failure with new contracts without any financial risk to their shareholders.
“They are also undertaking the biggest attack on rail workers’ jobs, pay and pensions in in decades.
“In response RMT is balloting tens of thousands of rail workers to send a clear message to the Government that we will not stand by as shareholders get richer and rail workers get poorer,” he said.