RMT members prepare to strike on West Coast for pay justice

As RMT members prepare for the first of a series of strikes on Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin West Coast tomorrow (Friday 15th December)  in a fight for workplace justice and equality, and with workers on Virgin Trains East Coast balloting in a separate dispute over fair pay, the union has revealed today that Virgin and their partners are creaming it in from passenger revenues on both routes – topping the Train Operator Rich List big style.
 
The Virgin  East Coast franchise received an astonishing £48.49 per train mile just from passengers fares in 2015/16 amounting to a total of £708 million revenue in a year whilst his West Coast franchise was slightly behind with £46.33 per train mile but earning overall more passenger revenue with £1.017 billion a year.
 
These huge sums levered out of Britain’s beleaguered fare payers even outstripped those received by the lucrative London and South East commuter franchises including GTR Southern although passenger revenue here was still a very healthy £34.81 per train mile for a franchise that has been widely criticised for poor performance.
 
The full list below has been complied by Cambridge Economic Policy Associates (CEPA) in association with SYSTRA but buried away on the rail regulators website.  
 
RMT general Secretary Mick Cash said
 
“Richard Branson’s Virgin is top of the TOC rich list having long enjoyed the benefits of publicly funded new rolling stock and  infrastructure. This will be hard to stomach for workers striking on the West Coast tomorrow for workplace equality and justice and for those on Virgin’s East Coast currently balloting for action over pay and working conditions.
 
“With the Government lining up a £2 billion taxpayer-funded rescue operation for Virgin’s East Coast operation, while the company are already raking in the best part of fifty notes per mile, the travelling public will be demanding to know why rail in Britain has descended into this outright chaos at their expense.
 
“With the Virgin boardroom clearly awash with cash there is no excuse whatsoever for the company to refuse their worker’s pay and workplace justice.”
 
 
ENDS
 
 
EDITORS NOTES:
 
 

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