A UNION has welcomed moves to bring local railway services back under public ownership, but urged the Government not leave outsourced staff behind.
London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway will become part of Great British Railways next week.
It is part of Government plans to return the railways to the control of single organisation.
The move was praised by RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey – but he warned workers must not be left behind.
“Bringing these services back into public ownership is welcome, but it is not right that outsourced staff will not enjoy the benefits of being brought into Great British Railways.
“The Government has committed to delivering the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation and that promise must now be honoured.
“Outsourced cleaning, catering and other frontline jobs should be brought in-house, ending this super exploitation that has driven down pay, worsened conditions and led to huge amounts of money leaking out of the industry into shareholders pockets.
“A publicly owned integrated railway should directly employ the staff who keep it running, reinvesting money back into services instead of leaking it out in private profit to private contractors.”
