A union boss has accused foreign-owned railway operators of “profiteering” by taking £3.2billion in dividends over 25 years of privatisation.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, wants better pay for workers.
He said many firms refusing employees’ wage pleas are controlled by state-owned organisations in Europe, claimed to have enjoyed bumper windfalls.
Mr Whelan told the Mirror: “We’ve had more than 25 years of profiteering by those privateers. That is money that could have been invested in Britain’s railways and reducing fares.
“We’ve either subsidised nationalised industries in other countries or we’ve subsidised international owning groups because we’ve not been allowed to run our own trains.”
Analysis by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union last year claimed private train operating companies had extracted an estimated £3.2bn from Britain’s privatised railways from 1996 to 2019.
Train firms have hit back, branding claims of profiteering a “fantasy story to divert attention from the very real impact of their strike action on working people.”
A wave of rail strikes have caused chaos for millions of passengers this year.
The latest was when Aslef members at 11 train companies walked out on Saturday.
The RMT last week announced another four weeks of industrial action through a series of 48-hour strikes in December and January.
They are due to begin with over 40,000 members walking out on December 13, 14, 16 and 17.
Further talks between train chiefs and unions are set to continue this week.
But rail union the TSSA today announced a re-ballot of members at seven train companies that would give it the green light to carry on strikes for up to another six months.
A spokesman for industry body the Rail Delivery Group said: “Operators are currently paid a fixed fee of 0.5% of costs to run the service for government, with small additional payments linked to demanding targets on punctuality, reliability and so on.
“Even if the whole of that fee was removed, it wouldn’t come close to covering the pay rises unions are asking for.
“Before the pandemic, private sector companies earned only 2p from every pound spent on a ticket, in return for creating huge savings for the taxpayer.”
Sources say earnings include a range of transport sectors, rather than just rail, and claims they are making huge profits and paying out big dividends “simply isn’t the case.”
