UK on the verge of ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’

英国现代史上最大规模的铁路罢工即将爆发


(Danger signals ahead for operations in Scotland, says the RMT.)

(英国铁路、海运和运输工会表示,危险信号就在前方。)
新闻:

Trades unx RMT is warning for what it calls the biggest strike in modern British history. The unx plans to ballot its members in the railway sector, asking to back strike action. The ballot, which opens on 26 April and runs until 24 May, could result in labour being withdrawn from fifteen passenger train operating companies in England and Wales, as well as over 40,000 railway workers from Network Rail, the national infrastructure agency.

英国铁路、海运和运输工会警告称,这是英国现代史上最大规模的罢工。工会计划对铁路部门的成员进行投票,要求支持罢工行动。这次投票将于4月26日开始,持续到5月24日,结果可能会导致英格兰和威尔士15家客运列车运营公司的劳工罢工,以及国家基础设施机构铁路网的40000多名铁路工人罢工。

The RMT unx says Network Rail intends to cut at least 2,500 safety-critical maintenance jobs as part of a 2 billion GBP reduction in spending on the network. Meanwhile, staff of train operating companies (TOC) have been subject to pay freezes, threats to jobs and attacks on their terms and conditions.

工会表示,作为削减20亿英镑铁路支出的一部分,铁路网打算裁减至少2500个安全关键维护工作岗位。与此同时,铁路运营公司的员工遭到了工资冻结、就业威胁以及条款和条件攻击的威胁。

Effect on freight

影响货运

While the fifteen passenger operators targeted range from South Western Railway to LNER, the operations of freight carriers are potentially compromised if safety critical operational staff withdraw their labour from Network Rail posts. Tim Shoveller, regional director for Network Rail, defended the soon to be disbanded agency’s position. “”We cannot keep relying on government handouts, and so we must work together with train operators and our trade unxs to save millions of pounds and deliver a more efficient railway”, he told a BBC interview.

虽然15家客运运营商的目标范围从西南铁路到伦敦东北铁路,但如果涉及安全的关键操作人员撤出铁路网的岗位,货运运营商的运营可能也会受到影响。铁路网的区域主管蒂姆·舒弗勒为即将解散的铁路公司的立场进行了辩护。他在接受BBC采访时表示:“我们不能继续依赖政府的施舍,所以我们必须与列车运营商和工会合作,节省数百万英镑,建设一条更高效的铁路。”

Separate action is also proposed in Scotland, where the majority of passenger operations have just been brought back into public management after the local government exercised a break clause in its franchise contract with Dutch company Abelio.

苏格兰也提出了单独的行动,在当地政府执行了与荷兰公司阿贝利奥的特许经营合同中的一项中断条款后,大多数客运业务刚刚被重新纳入公共管理。

Removing safety critical jobs

取消关键安全工作岗位

Echoing the strikes of the 1970s, and even further back into the crippling strikes in the 1920s that culminated in the General Strike of 1926, unx leaders have said that if members vote “yes” in the ballot, and breach the “anti-trade unx” legal threshold for turnout, then a national railway strike could begin as early as June.

工会领导人曾表示,如果成员在投票中投赞成票,并打破了“反工会”的法定投票率门槛,那么全国铁路罢工最早可能在6月开始,这让人们想起了20世纪70年代的罢工,甚至追溯到20世纪20年代的严重罢工(最终以1926年的总罢工达到顶峰)。

Fears of worsening industrial relations have been voiced already this year, with trades unx sources making dire warning of a summer of discontent on the network. “Railway workers have had to contend with pay freezes, the prospect of losing their jobs and repeated attacks on their terms and conditions”, said RMT general secretary Mick Lynch. “Removing 2,500 safety critical jobs from Network Rail will spell disaster for the public, make accidents more likely and will increase the possibility of trains flying off the tracks. Train operating companies have praised our members for being key workers during the pandemic but have refused to keep staff pay in line with inflation and soaring living costs.”

对劳资关系恶化的担忧在今年已经有所发声,工会消息人士在网络上发出了一个可怕的警告,称不满情绪将会持续一整个夏天。“铁路工人不得不应对工资冻结、失业前景以及对他们的条款和条件的反复攻击,”工会秘书长米克·林奇说。“从铁路网取消2500个关键安全岗位将给公众带来灾难,使事故更有可能发生,并将增加列车脱轨的可能性。列车运营公司在疫情期间嘴上称赞我们的会员是核心员工,但却拒绝将工资与物价上涨和生活费用挂钩。”

Disquiet north of the border

北部边境的不安

In Scotland the railway has been effectively renationalised since the beginning of the month. The RMT says it has evidence that the Scottish government’s Transport Scotland department has directly requested for Network Rail to cut the funding for railway operations, maintenance, and renewals across Scotland.

自本月初以来,苏格兰的铁路实际上已经重新国有化。工会表示,它有证据表明,苏格兰政府的苏格兰运输部直接要求铁路网削减苏格兰铁路运营、维护和更新的资金。

“An FOI [Freedom of Information] request passed to RMT shows Transport Scotland requested that Network Rail reduce its baseline budget by 65 million GBP in both 2022/23 and 2023/24”, says a statement from the unx. “This new evidence is in direct contradiction to official responses from the Scottish Government when asked previously about cuts to renewals and maintenance funding.” Because of impending local authority elections in Scotland, restrictions on public comment mean Transport Scotland and other government agencies are unable to comment until after 5 May.

工会在一份声明中表示:“一份提交给工会的信息自由请求显示,苏格兰运输局要求铁路网在2022/23年和2023/24年削减6500万英镑的基线预算。这一新证据与苏格兰政府之前被问及削减续签和维护资金时的官方回应直接矛盾。”由于苏格兰即将举行地方当局选举,对公众评论的限制意味着苏格兰交通部和其他政府机构要到5月5日之后才能发表评论。

Absolutely shocking

绝对令人震惊

“This new evidence is absolutely shocking and shows the Scottish Government playing fast and loose with passenger and railway worker safety”, said Lynch at the RMT. ”It was only a few weeks ago that the full report into the tragic and avoidable rail disaster at Carmont was published, which highlighted the systemic and structural failures in safety caused by fragmentation of maintenance and renewals.

“这一新的证据绝对令人震惊,表明苏格兰政府在乘客和铁路工人的安全问题上玩忽职守”,伦敦铁路运输协会的林奇说。就在几周前,卡尔蒙特铁路灾难的完整报告才发布,报告强调了由于维修和更新工作的分散造成的系统性和结构性安全问题。

“These cuts have the potential to make things worse and I am renewing our calls on the Scottish and UK Government’s to put an immediate halt to these planned cuts and wider plans by Network Rail to cut thousands of safety critical maintenance jobs and instead guarantee that the necessary investment in the rail infrastructure and modern communication systems to keep the railways safe will take place.”

“这些预算削减可能会使事情变得更糟,我再次呼吁苏格兰和英国政府立即停止这些计划中的削减,以及铁路网发起的,旨在削减数千个涉及安全的关键维修工作岗位的计划,并确保对铁路基础设施和现代通信系统进行必要的投资,以确保铁路安全。”

The force of reasoned argument

理性论证的力量

Lynch went on to say that thousands of railway workers have seen their living standards “plummet” and have run out of patience. “The way for trade unxs to effectively take on the cost-of-living crisis is to stand up for their members at work and take industrial action when employers are not moved by the force of reasoned argument.
A national rail strike will bring the country to a standstill, but our members livelihoods and passenger safety are our priorities.”

林奇接着说,成千上万的铁路工人看到他们的生活水平“直线下降”,已经失去了耐心。“工会有效应对生活成本危机的方法是,在雇主不能被理性的论点所打动时,为工作中的工会成员挺身而出,采取产业行动。
一场全国性的铁路罢工将使国家陷入停顿,但我们的成员的生计和乘客安全是我们的优先事项。”