The
RMT


is
calling
for
outsourcing
–
the
use
of
contractors
to
provide
services
like
cleaning
and
catering
–
to
be
abolished
on
the
railways.

A
new
report
from
the
union
called
‘How
outsourcing
embeds
systemic
racism
on
the
railway’,
claims
that
thousands
of
workers,
who
are
predominantly
from
black
and
minority
ethnic
communities,
are
‘trapped’
in
outsourced
jobs
with
no
pensions
or
training
and
have
no
pathway
to
promotion.

Surveys
have
revealed
that
58
per
cent
of
outsourced
cleaners
and
caterers
are
from
these
backgrounds,
although
they
make
up
only
25
per
cent
of
the
staff
directly
employed
by
train
operating
companies.

In
London
and
the
south
east
up
to
80
per
cent
of
outsourced
cleaners
are
BME,
compared
with
40
per
cent
of
train
and
station
staff.

The
report
adds
that
82
per
cent
of
outsourced
workers
want
to
build
a
career
in
Great
British
Railways,
but
77
per
cent
have
never
had
a
discussion
about
promotion,
and
68
per
cent
have
had
no
‘meaningful’
training
in
the
last
three
years.

The
union
claims
that
companies
use
outsourcing
to
create
a
two-tier
workforce,
depriving
staff
of
sick
pay,
pension
rights
and
job
security,
‘all
while
extracting
shareholder
profit’,
and
it
is
calling
on
the
government
to
take
action.

General
secretary
Eddie
Dempsey
said:
‘Outsourcing
is
one
of
the
most
exploitative
practices,
enshrining
dreadful
employment
conditions
and
low
pay
for
workers.

‘Black
and
ethnic
minority
workers
bear
the
major
brunt
of
this
super
exploitation
and
are
effectively
trapped
in
second-class
employment,
unable
to
progress
in
a
train
company
or
Network
Rail.

‘Outsourcing
is
inefficient
and
wastes
public
money
while
company
bosses
and
shareholders
make
obscene
amounts
of
money,
much
of
it
leaving
the
country
all
together.

‘RMT
will
fight
tooth
and
nail
to
see
these
workers
brought
in-house,
so
they
can
enjoy
the
benefits
our
other
members
have
being
directly
employed.

‘Labour
has
promised
the
biggest
wave
of
insourcing
for
a
generation.
We
intend
to
hold
them
to
their
promises
and
build
on
what
they
have
started
with
GBR.’

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