Warning over job security on Metro

Oct 15 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

METRO staff will see their job security put at risk if the service is handed to a private company, union leaders have warned.

Train operator Nexus has been told by officers at the RMT that they must ensure staff contracts offer “watertight” protection if German-owned DB Regio wins the right to run the rail services.

Nexus is considering the DB Regio bid alongside an in-house version to decide who will run trains once £300m in Government cash is handed over.

The RMT says it is involved in two ongoing disputes with DB Regio’s sister company, DB Schenker, over employment rights for workers moved from the public to the private sector.

Regional organiser Stan Herschel has already written to Nexus urging them not to hand services over to a company which “does not treat its staff with enough basic respect”. Mr Herschel said: “This bid by Regio will see workers’ job safety put at risk.

“We have seen how Regio’s sister company, Schenker, has treated workers elsewhere and we do not believe they will be a good employer if they are handed the keys to Metro.” The RMT says job safety could be “the first casualty” if DB Regio take over.

They have pointed to an ongoing dispute the company is involved in with its services in the North West and another in Scotland as reasons to keep the train services in-house.

Union bosses say they have faced situations in which the only option open to them is to strike, a move which would bring the Metro to a halt if repeated on Tyneside.

Mr Herschel added: “I personally think these are appalling people to work for.