Staffing levels and pay awards

Service cuts illustrate the pitfalls of public control

THE need to reduce the timetable in Scotland by more than 25% is a salutary lesson that public ownership does not always offer the panacea to resolve service delivery issues that many have been led to believe. What has been largely overlooked is that once any activity is placed in public ownership, it is competing for funding with other spending priorities such as the National Health Service and social care, as well as education and defence budgets. This is not only in terms of investment, but also day-to-day spending. And for rail, this is focused primarily on employment costs. The long-running dispute with drivers’ union ASLEF, in respect of staff employed by train operating companies that hold National Rail Contracts, is testimony to the reality whereby the need to control…

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RAIL (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 1015

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