Grant Shapps and the Conservatives try their hardest to painting the rail strikes as a conflict between the travelling and tax-paying public and rail employees. However that’s not the way it seems to be from the place I’m sitting.
Social media is stuffed with feedback corresponding to “I don’t drive. I rely upon public transport. With out the trains I’m separated from my household. I assist the strike 100%, for all rail employees and their households.” and “I’m a Registered Nurse. I exploit public transport ceaselessly. The hanging rail workers have my full assist. All employees, non-public and public should stand collectively within the battle for improved pay, phrases and circumstances.” Interviews within the Guardian inform an identical story. And I agree with them.
Virtually everyone on this nation agrees we wish a secure, environment friendly, dependable, reasonably priced and effectively managed rail service. And it’s clear {that a} majority of individuals persistently imagine that the way in which to ship such a rail service is to convey it again into public possession. This has at all times been Inexperienced Celebration coverage as a result of we wish our railways to work for the general public good, slightly than prioritising making income for personal rail corporations.
Many individuals perceive that the price of residing disaster is definitely an revenue disaster. We can not due to this fact count on these on the bottom incomes who work in our important providers – in transport, well being, schooling, social care and different sectors – to just accept a pay reduce in actual phrases. Particularly in the identical week that the Authorities proposes limitless pay for Metropolis bosses.
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Rail employees’ unions labored intently with the Authorities and employers all through the pandemic (by the Rail Trade Restoration Group) to maintain issues shifting, get key employees to work and accepted pay freezes. Unions confirmed copious goodwill, but the response has been to maintain chopping pay and jobs. Finally, the federal government decides how the railway is funded, they usually have provoked this strike as a part of their politics of division. It’s no marvel rail employees voted 89% to strike. I assist them.
The federal government says it’s ‘engaged on behalf of the travelling public’ by in search of to ‘modernise’ the railways and introduce ‘effectivity financial savings’. If the federal government was genuinely supporting the travelling public it could put money into the railways correctly, reduce fares and incentivise folks again onto trains.
Encouraging far higher use of public transport can also be crucial to tackling the local weather disaster.
Whereas we now have made progress with lowering the local weather influence of our vitality techniques, transport is lagging far behind. Between 1990 and 2019, greenhouse fuel emissions in vitality provide declined by 66%, however solely by 5% in transport.
It’s clear that the local weather disaster calls for extra public transport and fewer non-public transport. We want evening trains that may carry us to our holidays within the UK or elsewhere in Europe, slightly than the flights which will appear low cost to us however whose value is borne by our local weather. And most of all, we’d like rail journey to be cheaper than extra polluting types of journey. Solely important public funding can obtain that.
The place Greens are in authorities there are good examples of the best way to make climate-friendly transport the most affordable and best possibility. In Germany a €9 month-to-month ticket has been made accessible to customers of the nationwide rail community, whereas in Scotland, free bus journey is loved by all underneath 22s.
Quite than giving in to the Tories’ politics of division, we must always all be arguing for a publicly owned and correctly funded railway, with a workforce that’s paid correctly to replicate the expert and vitally essential work they do. In any other case we’ll all lose – and so will our local weather.
