The RMT is holding a mass meeting in Manchester today as part of its national campaign to end outsourcing on the railways.

The event at The Vine Inn in Kennedy Street at 14.00 will hear from general secretary Eddie Dempsey and regional organiser Steve Shaw as the union steps up its fight for an integrated, publicly owned railway.

The RMT argues that all rail jobs such as cleaning, catering, engineering and station services should be brought back in-house to reverse decades of outsourcing that it says have ‘driven down pay, eroded conditions and undermined safety’.

The union is also demanding that the government takes action.

General secretary Eddie Dempsey said: ’Outsourcing is a racket that’s bad for workers, bad for passengers and bad for the taxpayer. The Labour government promised the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation and we intend to make sure they deliver on that promise.’

When the railway was privatised 30 years ago, infrastructure maintenance was entrusted to third-party engineering firms. Control and management of maintenance was brought back in house by Network Rail after 2002, and although contractors are still widely used, particularly on new projects, they work in partnership with Network Rail.

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