{"id":4648,"date":"2026-10-16T10:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/16\/politics-home-union-urges-pm-not-to-cut-railway-jobs-as-part-of-public-ownership-shift\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T10:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T10:34:08","slug":"politics-home-union-urges-pm-not-to-cut-railway-jobs-as-part-of-public-ownership-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/16\/politics-home-union-urges-pm-not-to-cut-railway-jobs-as-part-of-public-ownership-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics Home | Union Urges PM Not To Cut Railway Jobs As Part Of Public Ownership Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n <\/p><\/div>\n

Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) has written to the Prime Minister urging him to halt planned industry cuts. (Alamy)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n \"Nadine <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n 3 min read<\/span>2 hr<\/span>
\n \n <\/p>\n

\n

A union leader has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham ahead of the Budget urging him to ensure\u00a0no jobs are cut as part of plans to nationalise the railways.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

In a letter seen by PoliticsHome, the General Secretary of the Transport Salaried Staff Association (TSSA),\u00a0Maryam Eslamdoust, expressed alarm that the creation of\u00a0Great British Rail (GBR)\u00a0would mean staff\u00a0at existing bodies in the railway network are cut.<\/p>\n

The PM should “direct the Department of Transport (DfT) to immediately halt proposed redundancies and workforce reductions at Network Rail and publicly controlled TOCs (Train Operating Companies)” in a\u00a0“pre-Budget cost of living lifeline” for hundreds of railway workers, it said.<\/p>\n

The union believes\u00a0nearly 1,000 Network Rail jobs\u00a0could be at risk from a workforce reduction.<\/p>\n

Alongside job protections, the union is asking for binding guarantees to protect railway workers’ pensions, staff travel facilities, and pay and conditions during the transition to GBR.<\/p>\n

The TSSA\u00a0also wants\u00a0ministers to review Network Rail funding, warning that recent derailments in the south of England\u00a0and nationwide disruption caused by extreme temperatures\u00a0show that the country’s railway infrastructure requires investment.<\/p>\n

The letter comes after the union met with the PM alongside the Trade Union and Labour Party Liaison Organisation (TULO) ahead of Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget later this month.<\/p>\n

In a statement shared with PoliticsHome following the meeting, Eslamdoust said her union fully supports government plans to bring the railways into public ownership, but said it “must mean greater security for workers, not a programme of job cuts”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The government has an opportunity in this Autumn Budget to deliver a genuine cost of living lifeline for transport workers, and one of the simplest ways to do that is to protect their jobs,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Our members are absolutely critical to the safe and effective running of Britain’s railways. These are skilled, experienced workers whose knowledge and expertise cannot simply be replaced.<\/p>\n

“At a time when families are struggling with the cost of living, it makes no sense to push railway workers towards redundancy. Protecting their livelihoods is a practical step the government can take right now.”<\/p>\n

A Department for Transport spokesperson told PoliticsHome: \u201cGBR\u00a0will be owned by the public, for the public, and will put passengers at the heart of everything it does.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently working on the structure of GBR and how it will be resourced.<\/p>\n

“We continue to engage with\u00a0unions and staff to ensure the right outcomes are reached \u2013 to deliver a\u00a0reformed, integrated railway that delivers the best outcomes for passengers and those who work in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

GBR, first announced by Burnham’s predecessor in No 10, Keir Starmer, is described by the government as the “directing mind” of a nationalised railway network, designed to\u00a0“end years of fragmentation” and have “a relentless focus on driving up standards for passengers, including simpler fares and ticketing”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chiltern Railways became the\u00a0latest\u00a0railway company to move into\u00a0public ownership in September.\u00a0Great Western Rail is set to become nationalised in 2026, with Avanti following in March next year, as part of government plans to phase out\u00a0privatisation of the railways.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) has written to the Prime Minister urging him to halt planned industry cuts. (Alamy) 3 min read2 hr A union leader has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham ahead of the Budget urging him to ensure\u00a0no jobs are cut as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}