Hydrex Equipment (UK) Ltd was a crucial supplier of plant to Network Rail and its contractors, with a fleet of more than 300 road rail vehicles. When it went into administration last year, Network Rail felt compelled to step in. It bought Hydrex’s rail division from the administrators in November 2011 and set up Network Rail (NDS-Plant) Ltd as a new subsidiary. This is now being offered for sale again.
However, RMT has written to Network Rail chief executive David Higgins to reverse this decision and keep rail plant in house, given that the private sector had failed before.
“The plan to jump back into further fragmentation and destabilisation is of no benefit to the workforce or the industry,” the union says
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “RMT has built a solid union organisation within the former Hydrex workforce and we intend to use every tool at our disposal to persuade Network Rail to call off their plans to throw these workers back out to the mercy of the private sector.
“Network Rail did the right thing back in November last year when it bought the collapsed Hydrex from the administrators to save over 500 jobs and to bring a core aspect of NR’s business in house.
“To risk an action replay of that catastrophic private sector failure, just a few months later, makes no operational or business sense whatsoever and simply destabilises a key area of rail activity with the associated threat to jobs and working conditions as the same old gang of spivs and chancers who failed before move back into the frame.”
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