Member News
By John McDonnell MP - 29th March 2011
John McDonnell MP calls for an urgent industry-wide jobs seminar to examine rail engineering employment needs now and the importance of skills for the future.
My adjournment debate on the future of engineering jobs coincides with a shameful anniversary in the recent history of Britain's railways. On 31st March 2010 rail engineering company Jarvis went into administration and 1,200 long-standing, skilled employees were thrown on the dole without any notice. They and their families' livelihoods were destroyed and their pensions slashed.
One year on and the majority of these workers are still on the dole and struggling to cope, whilst Network Rail has re-let former Jarvis contracts to agency labour, some of whom pay exploitative wages. Jarvis's work transferred to new companies, but its workers did not and this is a national scandal.
Network Rail and the previous government refused a rescue package that would have bought time to ensure the orderly transfer of Jarvis employees to new contractors. There is a moral duty on Network Rail to align former Jarvis workers with the former Jarvis work on the same terms and conditions.
The skills of the former Jarvis workers are vital in ensuring the highest standards of safety on today's railway and their loss will also inhibit major future infrastructure projects such as High Speed 2. That is why I am asking the minister to convene an urgent industry-wide jobs seminar to examine rail engineering employment needs now and the importance of safeguarding and enhancing skills for the future.
Former Jarvis workers have been left with nothing and unsurprisingly, there are hundreds of powerful stories to be told and these personal testimonies have been collected by their union, the RMT.
There are tales of broken marriages and of men separated from their families because of the strain of the loss of their jobs and no income. One worker has become alcohol dependent because of depression and is currently on sickness benefits taking seven prescribed medications every day. From earning a decent living while working to support his family, his income has plummeted to £130 fortnightly and he has had to move in with his mother.
Others have lost their home or the family car or suffered medical conditions as a direct result of the stress brought on by redundancy. For all the future is bleak. After decades working for Jarvis one describes having to sign on as "soul destroying".
These workers are angry and bewildered that they have been forced through hell yet their former work is still being done by other contractors who one notes, "have taken advantage of sacked engineers desperate to find work: low wages, poor terms and conditions; long hours; zero hours working; long driving times and a culture of keeping quiet about safety for fear of not being picked for contracts are happening right now... and I hope my fears about accidents and death on a railway prove to be untrue."
Former Jarvis employees worked 24/7, 365 days a year to keep our railway running. They deserve so much better.
Local RMT members in York are holding a public meeting on Thursday 31st March to mark the anniversary of the Jarvis bankruptcy and mass redundancy 4-6pm in Crescent Working Men’s Club.
John McDonnellwas elected Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington in 1997.
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