25 September 2026
RMT Press Office:
RAIL union RMT will hold protests outside Labour Party conference meeting in Liverpool on Monday September 28 with striking outsourced rail workers to highlight low pay and calling for them to be taken in-house.
Outsourced RMT members on TransPennine contracts working for Bidvest Noonan and Rail Gourmet are striking against low pay and in-work poverty.
Outsourced workers on another publicly owned contract LNER who work for Gate Solutions will also be taking strike action next month at Doncaster, Edinburgh Waverley, King’s Cross, Leeds, Newcastle and York starting with 24-hour action from October 16.
The growth in strike action by outsourced workers comes as the Common Wealth think tank published a report which says that by allowing public service outsourcing the government was effectively driving workers into poverty.
“The government is complicit in trends towards in-work poverty that have seen the proportion of non-retired people living in households that receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes increase.
“Outsourced workers tend to have lower wages and more insecure working arrangements than those directly employed in the public sector,” the report said.
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey also said that over one million people who work in public services were now on privately run contracts.
“That is a recipe for grinding poverty and poorer services, if the work is permanent so should the jobs.
“Bringing workers in-house makes sense for the taxpayer and the economy,” he said.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- Link below to Common Wealth report: Back In-House: The Case for Ending Outsourcing
https://www.common-wealth.org/publications/back-in-house-the-case-for-ending-outsourcing
- RMT striking outsourced workers protest will take place at 11.30am to 12.00 outside conference on Monday September 28.
- This will be followed by an Insource Now! Rally with RMT, UNISON and PCS at 1pm at the Hilton Hotel, 3 Thomas Steers Way, Liverpool, L1 8LW.
- Speakers included RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey, UNISON general secretary Andrea Egan, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote, Andy McDonald MP, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak and chair, Kim Johnson MP.
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Tagged with: RMT, Eddie Dempsey, Rail Gourmet, Bidvest Noonan, Outsourcing, Insource Now
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