RMT rail staff insourcing puts Labour under pressure

RMT rail staff insourcing has become a direct test of what public ownership will mean after Govia Thameslink Railway nationalisation. The union argues that outsourced workers should not be left outside the benefits promised by the move into public control.

Outsourced railway workers remain outside direct employment

RMT has called on the government to move all Govia Thameslink Railway staff into direct employment after the operator became the latest train company to come under public control. The transfer was also covered by Railway Supply in its analysis of Govia Thameslink Railway public ownership. RMT has long pressed for every part of the railway to be publicly owned, and it welcomed the government’s commitment to launch Great British Railways with both track and train nationalised.

At the same time, the union warned that thousands of outsourced railway workers will remain employed by private contractors. That group includes railway cleaners and security staff, gate line employees, infrastructure maintenance workers, renewal teams and engineering personnel.

Public ownership raises pressure over private contractors

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said outsourced staff should receive the same benefits of public ownership as those already employed directly. In his view, the Labour government now has to act on its commitment to deliver a major wave of insourcing across the rail sector.

For RMT, the dispute is not only about contracts. The union says staff working for outsourced companies contribute just as much to public transport, but many still face poorer wages, no sick pay and treatment that leaves them feeling like a second-class workforce.

Great British Railways and the next labour dispute

The creation of Great British Railways has, in this context, become a wider test of whether nationalisation will extend across the rail workforce. The government’s own Great British Railways public ownership programme frames the reform around a publicly owned structure for passenger services and infrastructure. RMT said it will continue applying industrial and political pressure until the government fulfils its obligations to the union’s members.