Jarvis workers demonstrate
WORKERS, JUNE 2010 ISSUE
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Sacked Jarvis workers demonstrating opposite King's Cross Station, London. Photo: Workers |
Hundreds of sacked Jarvis workers demonstrated outside Network Rail headquarters at Kings Cross, London on 28 April to demand their jobs back.
Members of RMT, TSSA Unite and GMB angrily accused Network Rail of deliberately triggering the collapse of Jarvis. The workers know that their work still needs to be done and that their jobs are still there, and that Network Rail has begun to award the Jarvis contracts to other firms. They believe that this is a cynical ploy to drive down costs by cutting rates of pay, and attacking hard won conditions.
The campaign to win back their jobs has seen Jarvis workers marching through Doncaster, York and Leeds. The unions believe that the TUPE Regulations should apply in this situation, and union pressure on the new contractors is paying off. Already, Scotland-based Babcock Rail has agreed to take Jarvis workers on to do their old jobs.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow commented that the Jarvis sackings were part of a £5 billion Network Rail cuts programme which is ripping apart both the rail industry and the livelihoods of the people the public rely on to deliver safe rail travel.