Rail renationalisation will ‘reset relations’ with unions however fares to rise
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has vowed to “reset the relationship” with rail unions as part of the government’s renationalisation plans.
She accused the Tories of having “a scorched earth approach to industrial relations, seeing the trade unions constantly as a problem to be managed as opposed to a partner to work with.” Her comments came after Labour set out a three year timetable for bringing rail franchises back into public ownership, starting with South Western Railways next May.
Louise Haigh, who quit as Transport Secretary last week after it emerged she pleaded guilty to a fraud offence a decade ago, settled a more than two year pay dispute with train drivers in England, Scotland and Wales.
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PA)
In September, Aslef union members accepted an offer which included a 5% backdated pay rise for 2022/23, a 4.75% rise for 23/24, and a 4.5% increase for 24/25.
Ms Alexander told the BBC: “Look at some of the train operating companies that have come into public ownership. Take LNER or Southeastern, we have a good track record of seeing improvements on those lines. At LNER, the cancellations that happened due to staff shortages have fallen to basically zero.”
But she was challenged about ongoing chaos at Northern trains, which was brought under government control in 2020. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has described its performance as “embarrassing”. Ms Alexander said: “I don’t predict that there aren’t problems on Northern because there are and it’s a big priority for me and the ministerial team to be working with the leadership there.”
Rail fares are still set to rise by an average 4.6% next year. Ms Alexander said: “We’ve got to have a laser focus on improving performance and reliability and if people are getting a good service, then I think they are prepared to pay for that. The truth of the matter is, over the past 30 years we have had a broken, failed system.”
Johnbosco Nwogbo, lead campaigner at campaign group We Own It, said: “Passengers will be hoping that these rail lines coming into public hands will mark the beginning of a long-awaited great railway revival in England. Thirty years of failed privatisation has left us paying more and getting less.”