Rail catering under the hammer Fellastar

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Forgood foodand drink division of British Transport Hotels Ltd The union involved (the NUR) appears to be doing as much as it can to ensure that the employees retain their existing conditions of service, but apart from this there is no visible resistance whatsoever.

In fact, far from opposing privatisation, the NUR bought £500,000 worth of shares in the first of the hived off hotels, claiming it was for the good of the members!

It may seem therefore that the socialist principle of worker ownership has pany in this case proved ineffective as far as protection of workers' pay is concerned. It would have been more advisable to have opposed the hive-off rather than get into a position where they could be pressured by joint owners into keeping down the living standards of their members.

So what happens next? Travellers' Fare station catering narrowly escaped privatisation last year by a few votes in the House of Commons and although the in redundancies) there is also the fact that where now station catering is run as a service to the public, open 24 hours a day in some places, it is well on the way to ending up like the motorway cafes which charge high prices for poor quality food and a service which leaves a lot to be desired.

This is not to say that Travellers' Fare is much better. The cut back in staff has ensured that at busy times customers have to wade through endless dirty plates and cutlery in To ensure a regular flow of custom, the train service has to be accessible and attractive to the majority of the public.

Therefore what is needed is investment for complete electrification and modernisation of the system, and once we have that fares would have to be dropped to regain the lost customers, especially the ordinary traveller. Then hopefully both the railways and station and train catering will flourish as a service, not as a prott oriented business.

ELAINE JOHN (NUR) but also the entire tanks and trade union movement and the working class community of the justness our claim and the necessity of supporting the NUM.

Joint meetings, and nationally, must set up between the NUM and strategic unions, particularly EEPTU Horkers, NUR, TG WO and ASLEF co-oreman action and prevent movement of coal from pits or stout are power stations SLUL but also An overtime ban should be forthcoming immediate ly, in order to erode coa stocks as much as possible but also to drive home t some of our members hos much of their money 1 made up from overtime Payments. coming months be given over to intense preparation for the likely confrontation ahead. The stakes are too higi for anything else.

oho e innendi NUM, Dinnington Colliery, Colliery, Yorkshire Area