Modernising Maintenance Update 5 October 2022

Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Modernising Maintenance consultations were suspended to respect the period of national mourning. 

Consultations are set to resume tomorrow (6^th October).

Ahead of tomorrow's meeting, Network Rail has provided us with an update on where they believe we are with the consultations.

The document can be viewed below. 

The consultation process at this stage is focused on looking to set the national principles that will form the basis to consultations on how changes will be made at Route level. 

Although we welcome some of the elements included in this document – the voluntary severance scheme to be made available on Red Book terms for example - there are a number of concerns we have around the proposals as they are at the moment. 

We are still very clear that one of our principal aims is to secure a no compulsory redundancy agreement for our members. Network Rail tell us they are fairly confident they can achieve the reduction in roles via the VSS scheme, which begs the question, if that is the case then surely they can agree that no one should be made compulsory redundant.

At tomorrow's and any subsequent meetings we will be looking to ensure that the National Principles are underpinned with more clarity and detail and to gain assurances that when it comes to Route level consultation, there is a consistent, well defined, and fair approach.

We understand that members affected, directly and indirectly, by these changes will have many questions and concerns. To address this we will be holding a meeting for affected members, via Teams, next Wednesday 13 October. This meeting will give us a chance to explain where we are and how the talks are going and also allow us to answer as many of your questions as possible.

Details on how to join this meeting will be sent to affected members via email.