MANCHESTER, England — “We’ve won a major victory,” said David Lawrence, one of the leaders of the many-years-long fight to win union recognition by more than 150 rail workers employed by contractor Carlisle Support Services. They won recognition of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union. Under Carlisle’s auspices, they work on Northern Trains as gateline ticket checkers across the north of England.
“As well as union recognition for the gateline workers here,” RMT union regional organizer Steve Shaw said, “this will be extended, where it doesn’t yet exist, on all 14 of Carlisle’s contracts with rail companies around the country. This involves some 2,400 workers.”
Originally Carlisle told the workers there was no chance of the RMT being recognized, Shaw said. But “we got large turnouts for the strike picket lines, and some activists came forward among the strikers who dug in and helped make this all happen.” Carlisle issued a self-congratulatory statement Sept. 9 claiming the result was due to their “pioneering” role in recognizing the union.
Gary Corrigan, another of the leaders organizing the gateline workers, described the two-tier conditions they work under. “As outsourced workers, for years we’ve faced worse conditions than those faced by workers directly employed by Northern, not just on wages, but sick pay, pensions and holidays.”
Over decades the number of outsourced workers on the railway here has massively expanded, as rail companies take advantage of the second-class conditions workers are forced to toil under, often with no union protection. Gateline workers’ confidence in the union to take this on was bolstered by the 33 days of strike action those directly employed by rail companies carried out in 2022-23.
“We said don’t be afraid, stand up and by moving together as a union we can win,” Lawrence explained. “Often everything seemed stacked against us, but we had perseverance and cool heads.” Over the last year they held five one-day strikes and numerous protests outside Carlisle’s offices here.
The bosses “thought they had broken us when they brought in more than 20 new starts in the Manchester area to cover our jobs on the strike days, but we were determined,” Corrigan said.
“We spent time talking to all the union members, keeping everyone on board,” Lawrence added. When they went on strike, they held well-attended meetings to review their fight.
“The focus is now on the pay and conditions we face,” Corrigan said. “It’s not going to be easy. It never is. The company is not just going to sit back and agree, but we’re stronger now.” He said their union-organizing efforts are expanding because of the gains they’ve won.
“Some who didn’t join the union action in the Manchester area have now signed up,” he said, and gateline workers and union organizers have been to rail stations in Yorkshire to recruit them too.