Rail reorganisation in Anglia

[devon_belle]

Job losses within the railway industry are thankfully quite rare. Staff are offered and redeployed elsewhere usually. Under BR it could be quite lucrative to be made redundant from your position. Happened to me twice and were both times I really fell on my feet. That continued throughout privatisation so no reason to think it will be any different under GBR. Unions will fight all the way for each individual.

Good to hear!

 

[dk1]

Good to hear!

It’s really is so good compared to some industries. I recall a few years back Abellio payroll and delay repay departments were transferred/merged from East Anglia to Scotland. Several staff were offered catering amongst other positions of course on their previous salaries.

 

[Harpo]

That would be rather inappropriate as Norwich was Intercity.

Although 309s had booked jobs to Norwich on Summer Saturdays when DBSO sets went to Yarmouth (which was another can of worms!)

 

[Horizon22]

Is there any indication that these changes are leading to job losses?

Not sure if GBR is (or will ever be fully) at that stage yet, but there's definitely rumours about recruitment freezes in some areas. But I can imagine some areas may see specific redundancies, which is normal for any reorganisation, even on the railway. Often it ends up in deployment or remaining within the industry elsewhere.

 

[dk1]

Although 309s had booked jobs to Norwich on Summer Saturdays when DBSO sets went to Yarmouth (which was another can of worms!)

They ran as reliefs five or so minutes ahead of the booked trains.

 

[TransportHub]

Job losses within the railway industry are thankfully quite rare. Staff are offered and redeployed elsewhere usually. Under BR it could be quite lucrative to be made redundant from your position. Happened to me twice and were both times I really fell on my feet. That continued throughout privatisation so no reason to think it will be any different under GBR. Unions will fight all the way for each individual.

That's certainly true for 'proper' railway jobs (drivers, signallers, on track staff.....) they all have genuine need, often are safety crit and aren't duplicated in different companies. Management and Admin is a different story, most people working in M&A are not in a union, and don't have any protections above what's legally required. Many positions are duplicated or non essential. That's where the job losses will be, especially given the rise of AI will remove the need for many of those jobs regardless of GBR.

 

[Jim Jehosofat]

That's certainly true for 'proper' railway jobs (drivers, signallers, on track staff.....) they all have genuine need, often are safety crit and aren't duplicated in different companies. Management and Admin is a different story, most people working in M&A are not in a union, and don't have any protections above what's legally required. Many positions are duplicated or non essential. That's where the job losses will be, especially given the rise of AI will remove the need for many of those jobs regardless of GBR.

I've been retired for 11 years, but in my time the majority of managers and admin staff were members of the TSSA, Transport Salaried Staff Association.

 

[dk1]

I've been retired for 11 years, but in my time the majority of managers and admin staff were members of the TSSA, Transport Salaried Staff Association.

Yes that’s certainly my experience too although my days being in TSSA were not overly happy ones and found NUR/RMT and definitely ASLEF were far more supportive with infinitely more clout.

 

[Jim Jehosofat]

Yes that’s certainly my experience too although my days being in TSSA were not overly happy ones and found NUR/RMT and definitely ASLEF were far more supportive with infinitely more clout.

TSSA: Total Surrender Saves Arguments!

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

TSSA: Total Surrender Saves Arguments!

Too Scared to Strike Association.

Bands 1-4 in Network Rail are represented by TSSA and they have joint bargaining with RMT for Bands 5-8 and a few frontline roles.

Network Rail are actually in the middle of a Management Efficiency Programme with quite a few management roles going and a lot of restructure.

 

[Bald Rick]

I've been retired for 11 years, but in my time the majority of managers and admin staff were members of the TSSA, Transport Salaried Staff Association.

I don’t have any figures, but I sense that TSSA membership has fallen in that time, and I’d be surprised if it was the majoity of managers and admin staff. Certainly whenthe TSSA last called a strike in the 2022 dispute, bery few took action (albeit that doesn’t mean they are not members).

 

[dk1]

TSSA: Total Surrender Saves Arguments!

That just made me chuckle. Was only Tosser to me & other members as we knew deep down.

 

[GordonT]

Not least from reducing the duplication of back office functions HR, Finance, Training etc.

And presumably one costly managerial leadership team instead of two.

 

[William3000]

The 745s are not going to operate any services on the c2c routes. It’s bad enough having them operate away from their depot over on West Anglia let alone over there where nothing can rescue them in times of difficulty.

We love them on these routes - it’s not bad at all

 

[Bald Rick]

And presumably one costly managerial leadership team instead of two.

Three

 

[Class 170101]

Politically it won't be popular to make people redundant and I cannot see Labour wanting to do it. How many would accept voluntary redundancy I don't know but I expect you might lose quite a few by voluntary means if it is done right.

 

[Russel]

Politically it won't be popular to make people redundant and I cannot see Labour wanting to do it. How many would accept voluntary redundancy I don't know but I expect you might lose quite a few by voluntary means if it is done right.

A natural reduction would be more likely, people resigning, retiring, fired etc not being replaced.

 

[dk1]

A natural reduction would be more likely, people resigning, retiring, fired etc not being replaced.

Unless through gross misconduct, being dismissed is very rare on the railway even in managerial grades.

 

[FinsburyPark]

Why do they have to come out with nonsense like this, just be honest and say that in time there will be fewer manager, saving the Treasury money.

Government do like to "over egg" messages in a way that uses 150 words when they could have used 15 words.

It makes them look in control and like they are doing something. Sometimes they are making improvements, but a fair amount of it is window dressing.

Also: company CEOs and leadership teams do it quite a lot in press releases as well.

 

[Djgr]

Politically it won't be popular to make people redundant and I cannot see Labour wanting to do it. How many would accept voluntary redundancy I don't know but I expect you might lose quite a few by voluntary means if it is done right.

I think that it is inevitable that there will be a large reduction in the wage and salary bill within the railway.

There is a strong desire to eliminate the inefficiencies brought about by privatisation, reduce profiligate salaries and generally move on from the "casting in aspic" way of doing things of the past thirty odd years, in line with the realities of life in 2026.

 

[Bald Rick]

Politically it won't be popular to make people redundant and I cannot see Labour wanting to do it. How many would accept voluntary redundancy I don't know but I expect you might lose quite a few by voluntary means if it is done right.

the managament efficiency programme is well underway (at Network Rail at least), and there are many redundancies.