Incredibly it seems that London Midland operate their network on the basis of employing no one to work on a Sunday. Instead they rely on volunteer workers prepared to come in and work an extra shift in order to run the service on that day.

However, those coming in had been paid at overtime rates. London Midland have been engaged in a long standing fight with the unions to get Sunday included in the staffing rosters but, naturally, at no extra cost to the employers. Having discovered that not actually employing a full roster of staff to cover Sunday may well have saved money but also left them open to staff shortage problems, the operators were keen to rectify the flaw in their setup but without increasing their wage bill.

After an attempt to force new rosters on staff last spring was met with strike action, which in turn was stopped by a legal challenge from the employers, the existing arrangement was allowed to continue – until last Sunday that is. On that day staff were offered Sunday working but at normal rates of pay. This broke a long standing setup which has existed throughout the whole of the rail network going back to the days of British rail by which Sunday working – even if rostered -  has been paid at overtime rates. Some firms have removed this arrangement by offering new staff higher basic pay rates but London Midland assumed cutting overtime rates by 50% would do the trick instead!  Needless to say, most staff decided to spend the Sunday with their families and friends, hence the total collapse of the network.  Only the Birmingham to Liverpool line ran any trains.

Here we once again see the total madness of the privatized rail system. Train operators guzzle up huge subsidies from the government and try and find one means after another to get extra money from us whilst running a crap service. One recent trick they have used is to change the status of fares to avoid regulation price caps and bump up the cost of tickets. For example, according to The Telegraph of Sept 7^th: ‘…the rises by East Midlands Trains have pushed up the cost for passengers travelling to London from Market Harborough, Kettering and Wellingborough. As a result of the new restrictions anyone arriving in the capital between 9.45 and 10.06am, will see their fares increase from £37.50, £36.50 and £35.50 to £92.00, £82.00 and £78.00 respectively.’

Disputes are continuing to break out all over the national rail system as employers try and undermine existing conditions or get away with poor pay settlements.  The National Express East Anglia (NXEA) network is now facing renewed action from ASLEF following a series of two day strikes which hit the Liverpool Street based network during the summer. The action is set to start on September 21^st and last five days.

Meanwhile having totally misjudged the mood of its workers, London Midland has had to backtrack on their plan and have reinstated the overtime rates for now.

The call should be clear. Rail privatization has failed – it has meant huge profits for the operating firms and chaos for passengers. The whole rail system should be renationalized without delay and with no compensation for the old operators – they have made enough out of us already. The railways could then be run as part of a planned socialist transport system for the benefit of all. The Labour government should have done this years ago. They should do it now.