RMT News

Eversholt which owns much of the UK’s rail rolling stock has recently announced that it has paid a dividend of £200 million, up from £60 million the previous year. Combined with the £111 million dividends already announced by another train owner, Angel, the profits could pay for a 2.5 per cent fare cut. A third ROSCO Porterbrook is yet to announce its dividends. RMT general secretary said that Andy Burnham was right to say that we must have greater public control of the essentials in life.

The government’s new skills body, Skills England has announced that it was ‘retiring’ apprenticeship standards including the Deck Rating Apprenticeship, the only scheme that employers have consistently used to train UK Ratings for employment in the shipping industry. The Deck Rating apprenticeship was designed by the union in 2015, in collaboration with government, maritime colleges and employers, including Stena Line and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

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The power outage in Birmingham affected its control centre, resulting in many of the systems used to manage the railway being unavailable. Private operator Arriva runs Cross Country services which have yet to be taken in-house under plans for Great British Railways (GBR). RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that passengers and rail workers should not have to bear the brunt of another week of travel chaos due to insufficient back-up systems.

Ongoing action short of strike remains on in which members are instructed to refuse to work a Class 810 trains if a list of faults including lack of air-con, door faults and non-working toilets continue. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that the union would ensure representatives will be permanently involved in discussions with both EMR and Hitachi to try to improve the situation with the 810 units.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey applauded RMT maritime officials for engaging with Stena regarding retention of skills in the short term and its longer-term vision for UK ratings, job security, and opportunities for career development. “I would like to thank RMT national secretary Darren Procter, our shipboard representatives and Stena convenor Michael Hobson for all their hard work on behalf of the members.

The payment follows negotiations between the MNRPF Trustees and DP World and means the £94 million debt has now been paid in full, with the funds invested alongside other scheme assets. It also removes the charges held over P&O Ferries' vessels, which had been put in place as security against any default on the company's obligations.

The union understands that Northern Trains has instructed Carlisle Support Services (CSS) to hold trials that reduce the operation of gate lines on the Northern contract at many locations including St Helens Central, Blackburn, Harrogate, Skipton, Rochdale and Wigan Wallgate.

18 August 2026 General website documents - 107kb PDF 20260818 Enclosure - Proposed Principles and Recommendations for Consultation Your download should start automatically. If not download directly.

The plaque marks where Xavier lived in 1966 when he stood up against discriminatory practices preventing him from transferring to a role as a train guard at Euston. He was supported by his union representative, Jim Prendergast of the National Union of Railwayman (NUR) – predecessor to RMT – and with the case receiving national attention, his campaign exposed the existence of the colour bar.