RMT will resist job cuts, says RMT after GNER boardroom cull

Publication Date: August 31 2006

BRITAIN’S BIGGEST rail union renewed its call for the GNER franchise to be brought back in-house today, as news emerged that there had been a major cull of senior executives in the company.

RMT, which represents more than 1,500 of GNER's 3,000 staff, has said that it will resist wholesale attacks on jobs and conditions as the company's Bermuda-registererd parent, SeaContainers, attempts to squeeze the franchise to ease its financial crisis.

"It's all very well culling senior executives, but it is imperative that the slaughter is not extended to the hard-working front-line people who operate GNER's services," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"RMT will not sit back and watch jobs destroyed by people who are capable of seeing only the bottom line.

"The only sensible solution remains for the government to bring the franchise back in-house to secure the long-term future of GNER services and jobs," Bob Crow said.