Silverlink Company news

On Friday 5th December 2003 an urgently arranged consultation meeting was held with Silverlink management to discuss emerging proposals to transfer some existing and some new train maintenance from Bletchley TMD to a new depot at Northampton.

We were advised that the decision to transfer train maintenance of the 321 units from Bletchley to Northampton had been made by the Strategic Rail Authority on the previous day, which somewhat made a mockery of holding consultation with recognised trade unions on a decision that had already been made and without any representation from the decision makers themselves, i.e. the SRA.

The justification for the proposal is outlined in the document provided by management (which has been sent to members) and it appears that the order of new trains is to provide additional capacity in the peak hours on the West Coast, as a result of the full Virgin Pendolino trains being introduced which have less capacity than the trains that they replace.

It is proposed that Siemens, the train builders, will maintain the fleet of 30 new trains (10 for Silverlink and 20 for Central Trains as well as the Silverlink 321 fleet) and that maintenance would be carried out at a new depot which is planned to open in Northampton and therefore the Bletchley TMD would be closed with the residual work being transferred to Willesden.

TSSA staff side strongly expressed concerns on the impact of such a transfer would have on the fleet staff and sought clarification as to whether staff would continue to work on a Silverlink contract or whether they would transfer to Siemens.

We were advised that the proposal was that staff would transfer from Silverlink to Siemens but that any such transfer would be subject to the TUPE regulations (Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment Regulations) and would be subject to further consultation.

We have demanded that Silverlink provide us with further documentation on the affect this would have on staff, as well as the business justification and a cost benefit analysis.

We have also demanded that a representative from the SRA who, we are advised, are responsible for this decision to attend the next meeting in order to facilitate meaningful consultation over the whole process.

I have attached for your perusal the consultation paper and we await management arranging a further meeting. I will of course keep you informed of developments but in the meantime should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact TSSA.