UNIONS called for the end to the “injustice of outsourcing” on railways today ahead of the nationalisation of a second train operator by the Labour government.

Rail union RMT and the TUC both welcomed the nationalisation of c2c on Sunday, but stressed that outsourcing needs to be tackled.

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey expressed frustration that c2c staff cleaning its trains and stations will still be employed by private company Bidvest Noonan.

He said: “The injustice of outsourcing must end so all railway workers can reap the benefits of public ownership and greedy private contractors can no longer extract obscene profits from the industry.

“Our members working for Bidvest Noonan deserve decent pay and the same terms and conditions as their colleagues, and we will fight tooth and nail to achieve it.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “We need a fully integrated national rail service that works for passengers and the rail workforce.

“That means tackling outsourcing in the sector.”

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said that bringing train operators into public ownership is “tackling deep-rooted problems” with the railways.

Customers of a nationalised train company will be able to use their tickets on another publicly-owned operator at no extra cost during disruption.

South Western Railway became the first operator brought into public ownership by the Labour government in May.

It joined Northern, TransPennine Express, Southeastern and LNER, all nationalised under the Conservative government because of performance failings by the former owners of those franchises.

The next operator to be nationalised will be Greater Anglia on October 12.