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RMT calls on government to block use of taxpayers’ money to dump Hitachi Rail workers
A Hitachi Javelin high speed train passes through Ashford, Kent, in August 2017
Derek Kotz
Industrial reporter
RAIL union RMT has demanded that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps step in to stop Hitachi Rail UK from using taxpayers’ money to make dozens of workers redundant.
The union announced today that it is in dispute with the Japan-based transnational, which intends to sack 64 staff working on the publicly owned London North Eastern Railway (LNER) at train maintenance depots in Edinburgh and London.
RMT revealed that the company, which made a profit of more than £278 million last year, is using a clause in its 2012 commercial rolling-stock contract with the Department for Transport (DfT) that allows it to foist the £6.4m bill onto taxpayers.
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