It just got even harder to get a job in the south west. South West Trains (SWT) have announced new job cuts totalling 660 in the next month, in response to gloomy predictions all round for 2009. The South West could be the hardest hit in terms of employment by the global economic downturn.
SWT, who operate train services through London, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Surrey, Dorset, Devon, Somerset and Cornwall, said that 480 management and administration staff would be lost in January, and has followed this up with a further 180 planned job losses at the end of February.
The jobs involved in the latest cuts include positions in ticket offices and revenue protection, as well as more in management and administration.
South West Trains employ a workforce of 5,000 and could not tell staff or the press which locations the job cuts would affect. The press statement released merely said the cuts were as part of an "ongoing review of the company's cost base". SWT employees are concerned about their job security.
A warning has been issued by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers threatening a ballot for industrial action. The general secretary Bob Crow said "South West Train's attacks on its staff and passengers are eating into the very fabric of the railway they are supposed to be running, and they must be stopped.
"The idea that the 660 staff they now want to sack are somehow superfluous is ridiculous."
Rail network users have faced fare increases ranging from 6% to 7.2% to travel on South West Trains and the union believes the services will be badly affected by the job cuts.
"Cutting ticket office, cleaning, platform, information and clerical staff is a direct attack on passenger service" added Mr Crow.
SWT has said that train drivers, guards and frontline fleet maintenance staff will not have their jobs affected by the cuts. An SWT spokesperson also accused the RMT of being "completely out of touch with the current economic climate" in the threatening of strike action, arguing that the cuts would help prevent more jobs from being lost in the long term.
A statement issued by the company said "SWT is managing its cost base to ensure it is operating as efficiently as it can in view of reduced passenger growth and an increasingly challenging economic climate.
"Our priority will remain in maintaining services to our customers, protecting jobs for the majority of our people and providing a strong foundation for growth when the economy improves.
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