Sale of East Coast

Circular No. NP/210/14/BO

14th October 2014

To: ALL BRANCHES, REGIONAL ORGANISERS, REGIONAL COUNCILS,
HO OFFICERS & COUNCIL OF EXECUTIVES

Dear Colleagues,

Sale of East Coast

For a number of months, since we obtained the leaked prospectus for the East Coast franchise, the RMT together with the RMT Parliamentary Group and the TUC, has been in discussion with the Department for Transport (DfT) about their intention to not apply the Transfer of Undertakings Regulations (TUPE) in respect of this contract.

The DfT are stressing that this is the case in law, as there is no change of employer, and the terms and conditions of members will not change upon the sale of the business. RMT has taken legal advice on this matter and whilst that may be the case, we do not accept that you should be treated any less favourably than other public servants who are transferred in to the private sector or indeed between franchises. At the moment what is on offer does not provide the protection of TUPE going into the future and we are therefore taking further legal advice as well as continuing to raise this issue in Parliament through the RMT Group, and campaigning with our sister unions in order to try and secure the equivalent TUPE protections as part of the final documentation.

To date we have not been successful in that endeavour but we will continue to use all available means and opportunities and I will keep you fully informed of all future developments.

Yours sincerely,


 

Mick Cash
General Secretary