Archaic rail rules mean it takes nine workers to 'change a plug socket'
RMT accused of calling strike to defend host of outdated practices
Rail unions have been accused of bringing the country to a standstill over
archaic working practices that mean menial tasks such as "changing a plug socket" would take a team of nine workers.
Industry sources on Tuesday shed new light on inefficiencies that are costing taxpayers billions of pounds.
Demanding “walking time allowance” of 12 minutes for a one minute walk, specialist teams refusing to share vans, and engineers being unable to stray 500 yards from their dedicated patch are among the working practices that union chiefs are determined to defend, they claimed.
“We can’t roster individuals,” said one industry source. “Let’s imagine you want to change a single socket to a double in your kitchen. “Potentially you’d need an electrician, a tiler and a plumber as your dishwasher waste pipe will need adjusting too.
Alternatively, you could find a competent odd-jobber to do the whole task.
“In Network Rail we can’t roster individuals, only teams and we can’t multi-skill those teams so we’d need to send a team of three electricians, three tilers and three plumbers – nine people to do a job one person could do.
“Eighty per cent of the most common infrastructure faults could be fixed by small, multi-skilled teams.”
Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, on Tuesday said that “poor productivity” had become deeply entrenched throughout the railways.
"We are such an archaic industry in many of our working practices we can offer a good pay rise to our colleagues and good value for the taxpayer if only we can get sensible reforms in."
Mick Lynch, Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT) general secretary, has insisted he was not against change. “What we've got here is an unreasonable agenda of mass pay cuts, match job cuts and slashing of our terms and conditions,” he said on Monday.
But industry sources suggest otherwise. Another example they cite relates to the renovation of Birmingham New Street station, which began in 2010.
Prior to the rebuild, train crews were based in a “dark and dank” room in the bowels of the 19th Century station.
Once the £750m station rebuild got underway in 2010, crews were moved to the Guildhall in central Birmingham, a short walk away.
An industry source claimed: "The trade union insisted we renegotiate the walking time allowance, the paid time they get from leaving the train to arriving in the messroom – time that isn’t part of their breaktime.”
“[But] the trade union used a driver with a gammy leg and timed them from the end of the longest train, at the farthest extent of the station, to reach the Guildhall,” the source adds.
“And even then not via the rear exit to the Guildhall which spills out directly across the road from the station, but all the way around the building to use the main entrance where the lifts were located.
“The new walking time allowance was set at 12 minutes.”
The walk takes one minute, according to Google Maps. Meanwhile, maintenance teams are not allowed to cross boundary lines.
This means, for example, that if there is a fault on the Kings Cross to Potters Bar line and no staff available to fix it, a member from the nearby Euston to Watford line cannot step into the breach.
“[If] the Euston team who had no call outs on their patch could have popped across the 500 yards to Kings Cross to sort the issue in short order,” the source said.
The list goes on, they add. “Our specialist teams won’t share vans or equipment so we can't send one van with a mixed team in, we have to send two or more to each job. The specialist teams also won't collaborate even to the point of not helping to unload another team's kit.”
Switching desks at short notice, commonplace in many 21st Century offices, is also off-limits.
“In a major signalling centre we have up to half a dozen stations - desks with computers and screens on. If at the eleventh hour someone doesn’t turn up or falls sick we can ask a perfectly competent and qualified colleague to switch desks as they haven’t had adequate notice.”
Hours before
the strike began on Tuesday, rail chiefs vowed to “dump outdated working practices” and cut 1,800 staff. In a letter to trade unions, Network Rail said it would press ahead with plans to cut jobs and overhaul working hours in an effort to slash costs.
Bosses at Network Rail said that despite spending “many hours” in discussions with union leaders, talks had not progressed.
Tim Shoveller, who has led Network Rail’s discussions with union leaders to date, added: “Last night [Monday] Network Rail passed a letter to the RMT asking them to attend the start of formal consultation talks on Jul 1 on the introduction of modern working practices in our maintenance organisation.
“The changes will mean dumping outdated working practices and introducing new technology, both of which will lead to a more effective and safer maintenance organisation.”
