The Rail, Maritime, and Transport Union (RMT) is planning a day of action in Manchester on Wednesday, 19th November, in an effort to persuade rail operator Northern to end its practice of outsourcing across the railway.

Last month, members of the union employed by Carlisle Support Services on a revenue protection and gateline contract for Northern took part in a 48-hour strike against a culture of bullying and harassment by management.

In its effort to cease all outsourcing on the railway network, and with the wider rollout of Great British Railways (GBR), the union is demanding that Northern return the revenue protection and gateline contract to an in-house operation.

After the mass stabbing on a London North Eastern Railway train, the RMT issued a call for the government to reverse cuts to the British Transport Police service and to scrap further cuts already planned.

The union is also campaigning for Merseyrail services to be nationalised when the current contract expires in 2028.

“Northern is a publicly owned company. There is no excuse for continuing with a broken outsourcing model that bullies workers and drives down pay, conditions and offers no company sick pay. Our members on the Carlisle contract have shown tenacity in standing up to intimidation. They deserve to be treated with dignity and employed directly by Northern. With Great British Railways on the way, the Government has a responsibility to ensure all outsourced rail workers are brought in-house as part of an integrated, publicly owned system.”

Eddie Dempsey, RMT general secretary