Orders of the Day — Transport (Grants) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 7 February 1972.

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Photo of Mr Ronald Lewis Mr Ronald Lewis , Carlisle 12:00, 7 February 1972

I disagree. However, speaking on behalf of railwaymen, I say that they still think that they are underpaid. Railway shopmen, in whose work I was engaged before I became a Member of the House, are very perturbed about what is likely to happen as a result of the British Railway Board's proposal to make 5,500 railway shopmen redundant.

Since September, 1971, the railway unions have been showing how the problems resulting from redundancy can be alleviated. They have co-operated with the British Railways Board and in the joint working party in considering ways of dealing with the problem. They have met the Minister for Transport Industries on at least one occasion to discuss this. I understand that these redundancies arise mainly from the rundown of the wagon fleet from 299,000 to 173,000. We are told that there will be extensive redundancies in the very near future.

The railway unions are not Luddites; they are realists. They have co-operated to a considerable extent in the modernisation programme, as a result of which the number of workshop staff has been cut by half. They have encouraged modernisation in railway workships. They have encouraged new methods of working and streamlining.

The Minister said twice, "We can get by, given good management". Does he suggest that we have had bad management or that we have not had good management in the past or even during the present? Some of us who have been engaged in railway work have been perturbed for some time at the number of top personnel brought in from outside. Many ordinary railway workmen who rose to the top, particularly under private enterprise, did a wonderful job. Perhaps the Minister will comment on this aspect. Many of us in the railways would be much happier if many of the people engaged in the industry were given better promotion opportunities.

Most of the £30 million involved in the Bill will go to private industry. This annoys many of the trade unions. At the same time, the Minister proposes to close a number of railway workshops. I hope that he will give the trade unions involved an assurance that every effort will be made to ensure that there are no redundancies among railway workshop staff.