Fat cat rail employers award themselves eye watering yearly pay walkings while lecturing rail employees on requirement for pay restraint and reform.
On the day that rail employees take strike action in defence of their jobs, pay and conditions and train services brand-new RMT research study (listed below) has actually revealed that employers at 7 rail business have actually granted themselves yearly pay increases of in between 15- 275% whilst many rail employees have actually undergone a pay freeze.
For circumstances, at First Group, whose train business consist of stopping working Avanti West Coast and Transpennine Express, the compensation of the Chief Financial Officer and CEO increased by an eyewatering 275% and 168% in one year.
To put that into context, the dive in compensation of the then First Group CEO Matthew Gregory was more than 800 times greater than the pay award provided to rail employees for in 2015 (based upon typical income of £29,000 of a rail employee associated with today’s action).
The report likewise exposes that the given that the pandemic the personal train operators stand to make taxpayer revenues of £412 million by September this year, all moneyed by the taxpayer. RMT approximates that the train business’ typical yearly revenues given that the pandemic, around £118m, are almost double what the existing pay deal would cost for one year (£60m)
General Secretary Mick Lynch said:
“On the one hand Ministers tell workers they must tighten their belts and on the other they are using taxpayer’s money to fund eyewatering pay rises and profits for the railway fat cats. It is this blatant the unfairness that will only reinforce our members determination to get a better deal.”
Notes for editors:
RMT members at the Train Operating Companies have actually been participated in an extended conflict over pay, jobs and conditions. Members have actually undergone multi-year pay freezes and have actually just been provided a pay offer listed below inflation, which depended on accepting a raft of attacks on jobs and conditions. Yet, RMT analysis exposes that it is rather a various image for much of the leading directors at the train business and their owning groups, much of whom have actually seen their compensation skyrocket in the in 2015.
The table above programs that at different train operators or parent business, leading directors’ compensation has actually increased considerably in the in 2015 alone, at the very same time as frontline employees continued to go through pay freezes.
For circumstances, at First Group, whose train business consist of stopping working Avanti West Coast and Transpennine Express, the compensation of the Chief Financial Officer and CEO increased by an eyewatering 275% and 168% in one year.
To put that into context, the dive in compensation of the then First Group CEO Matthew Gregory was more than 800 times greater than the pay award provided to rail employees for in 2015 (based upon a typical income of £29,000 of a rail employee associated with today’s action).
The director compensation noted in the table listed below has actually all increased above RPI inflation.
It is rather clear that there is a lot of money in the rail market to money pay boosts, however that a choice has actually been made to keep rewarding the Fat Cat employers at the expense of the frontline employees who are continuing to deal with a cost-of-living crisis.
At the very same time, the train business continue to drain pipes revenues out of the train…
Under their agreements with the DfT. The personal train operators gather management costs of around 1.5% of their cost base in revenues which they can hand down to their investors.
Statutory accounts reveal that in 2015, Train Operating Companies paid almost £80 million in dividends to their owning groups in the in 2015 – and not all of them have actually submitted accounts yet.
Over the course of the pandemic, train operating business made £310 million in benefit from these management costs. By September this year, that is most likely to be in excess of £412 million, balancing around £118m a year.
RMT approximates that the existing pay deal for the train operating business would cost around £60 million for in 2015 (5% boost or £1750, whichever is greater).
According to their latest accounts, 3 out of 4 of FirstGroup’s rail business paid dividends from their DfT agreements in 2015, amounting to £59.4 million. Over the last 2 years, while they were on emergency situation agreements from the pandemic, they paid £90 million in dividends to FirstGroup plc. The group has actually paid an interim dividend of £6.7 million to its City investors in the very first half year of FY 2023 and suggests it anticipates to pay around £20 million for many years. The owning group has actually likewise utilized a few of its growing money to redeem 547,000 of its own shares, improving its share rate.
