Unions highlight flood safety

Recent heavy rain and flooding has confirmed union fears about cuts undermining public safety.

Rail union RMT warned against cuts in maintenance after crews battled in atrocious conditions to keep rail services running. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said the flooding in the north-west “has reinforced the importance of having a fully-crewed rail maintenance team able to respond to peaks of demand and run by people who understand engineering and not by bureaucrats and accountants shuffling numbers on balance sheets.”

The floods also highlighted the central role firefighters play in responding to a range of emergencies. Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU firefighters’ union, said: “Floods and other challenges raised by climate change mean that operational demands are not falling. If more cuts go ahead there will be fewer and fewer fire crews able to respond to all the emergencies we have to deal with.”