insourcing

‘Outsourcing on our railways is a racket’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/outsourcing-our-railways-racket

 RMT members in Manchester, August 14, 2025

RMT demands Labour deliver on its promise to start the ‘biggest wave of insourcing in a generation’

RAIL union RMT held a mass meeting in Manchester today as part of its national campaign to end outsourcing on Britain’s railways.

The meeting heard from RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey, regional organiser Steve Shaw, Salford Labour MP Rebecca Long Bailey and North West TUC secretary Jay McKenna.

In a recent report, the union warned that despite government plans to bring rail franchises in-house and create the new publicly owned body Great British Railways, a “hidden layer” of contractors continues to profit from the exploitation of thousands of workers.

The report warned that such companies make their profits by keeping workers on low-paid, inferior or casual contracts, leaving them struggling to get by.

RMT argues that all rail jobs, from cleaning to catering, engineering to station services, should be brought back in-house to reverse decades of outsourcing that have driven down pay, eroded conditions and undermined safety.

The union is also pressing the Labour government to honour its pledge to deliver the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.

Mr Dempsey said: “Outsourcing on our railways is a racket.

“Private firms are cashing in while cleaners, security staff and track workers, among others, are left struggling, often on low pay, insecure contracts and unsafe conditions.

“We have overworked cleaners, for example, working while sick, as companies like Churchill hand millions to shareholders.

“It’s totally indefensible and a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

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Continue Reading‘Outsourcing on our railways is a racket’

Morning Star Editorial: Public services can’t wear further cuts – Reeves must be stopped

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Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves arrives to meet students on the carpentry course during a visit to Bury College in Greater Manchester, March 20, 2025

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Fourteen years of Tory rule have cut services to the bone. The notion that “efficiency savings” can slice off further billions without worsening already degraded services is absurd.

Ironically, the cuts are intended to fund increased military spending — though if there is a department renowned for waste it is the Ministry of Defence. The MoD is repeatedly excoriated by the public accounts committee for the huge sums squandered on projects that end up delayed by years or not delivered at all.

Current Defence Secretary John Healey, when in the shadow cabinet, published a report identifying billions it had overspent on projects and billions more paid for cancelled contracts with its often extortionate suppliers. The report noted that the MoD had even been fined £32.6 million by the Treasury for its “poor accounting practices.” Yet it is this department which is having more billions thrown its way.

As for extortionate suppliers, the evidence is plain that besides tying institutions from hospitals to schools into contracts forcing them to repay PFI debts worth multiples of the original loans, many such agreements also tie them into inflexible and costly servicing contracts.

Outsourcing services is massively inefficient, yet remains the norm, despite Reeves’s one-time promise to deliver “the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation.”

As the Prison Officers Association (POA) points out of outsourced prison maintenance, we end up paying through the nose for “crumbling cells, compromised safety and rodent-infested jails.”

“We do not for one minute accept that the privatised model of prison maintenance is more cost effective than insourcing … it is completely delusional to claim it provides best value for the taxpayer,” POA general secretary Steve Gillan observes.

Clearly value for money is not Reeves’s priority — corporate profits are, including at the Treasury’s expense.

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Read the original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-public-services-cant-wear-further-cuts-reeves-must-be-stopped

Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Public services can’t wear further cuts – Reeves must be stopped

Morning Star Exclusive: Streeting urged to back New Deal for Workers and block £100m NHS privatisation bid

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Health Secretary Wes Streeting arrives in Downing Street, London, for a Cabinet meeting, December 3, 2024

HEALTH Secretary Wes Streeting has been urged to honour the New Deal for Working People after failing to back a Unison NHS strike over a £100 million-plus privatisation plan.

More than 350 facilities workers are on a three-week walkout over East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT’s) plans to outsource their jobs.

Large NHS contracts such as this need Cabinet Office approval but Mr Streeting has said he will not intervene in the trust’s outsourcing bid despite Labour’s promise for the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation, a union source said.

His stance has attracted criticism from Labour MPs, Unison and NHS campaigners, with ESNEFT’s board of directors expected to rubber-stamp the outsourcing of their soft facilities management contract tomorrow.

Eastern Unison head of health Caroline Hennessy said: “Moving these essential teams out of the NHS is a false economy and goes against government pledges on insourcing.

“The trust has spent months trying to justify its ill-thought-out plans to privatise the jobs of these key staff and has failed to win any of the arguments.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/streeting-urged-back-new-deal-workers-nhs-staff-strike-over-ps100m-plus-outsourcing-bid

Continue ReadingMorning Star Exclusive: Streeting urged to back New Deal for Workers and block £100m NHS privatisation bid