Stan Herschel, regional organiser of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Work (RMT) has promised strike action if his demands are not met.

It follows an official announcement by Government minister Rosie Winterton that £300m will be invested into the Metro system.

However, this is dependent on 'market testing', which Mr Herschel claims is privatisation.

He said: "This will be a hell of a campaign – a battle royale on the industrial front.

"If our campaign to scrap this privatisation of the Metro system fails, then we'll be presenting a list of assurances required.

"If they are not met, then it is very likely that we will take industrial action in defence of our members' pay and conditions."

The conditions include no compulsory redundancies, the creation of a collective bargaining group for staff, employees, including new entrants, remain in current pension schemes, all staff travel facilities remain and staff number levels are guaranteed.

However, a Nexus spokesman said: "This is not privatisation, Nexus will continue to own all of the Metro, set fares and timetables, and make sure passengers have the best possible travelling environment.

"We've kept the RMT and our staff fully informed and we will continue to work with them on any issues they might have."

Mr Herschel added: "The Metro system is a successful public operation, and it should stay that way."

See also:

New government funding should keep Tyne and Wear Metro public not enforce the privatisation of the service, says RMT

RMT: July 31 2008

The £300 million funding package for Tyne & Wear Metro announced by the Department of Transport today should not be based on “the procurement of an operating franchise” but to maintain this important service in the public sector, Britain biggest rail union RMT said.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the funding to upgrade the Tyne and Wear Metro network was a 'poison chalice' as the proviso was that the service is handed over to a private sector which would only sweat the assets.

"We have seen this process on the rail network when Railtrack squeezed money out of the industry and on London Underground when the Metronet consortium walked away after making millions.

"Rail workers have more than enough experience to know that privatisation and fragmentation undermines safety and service, threatens jobs and pensions and drains huge sums of public money into private pockets," he said.

Bob Crow said that the government was clearly looking after its big business friends and RMT would look after its friends, transport workers and the passengers that rely on Tyne & Wear Metro services.

"We will not hesitate to take industrial action to defend safety, jobs, pensions and the decent public service that Tyne and Wear Metro passengers have enjoyed since 1980," he said.

The campaign to stop the privatisation of Tyne And Wear Metro has received support from dozens of MPs who have already signed a commons motion 1862 (details below) tabled by Newcastle Central MP Jim Cousins.

ends

Notes to editors: Early Day Motion 1862 - Tyne and Wear Metro
Tabled by Jim Cousins (Newcastle Central) and signed (as at July 16) by Bill Etherington, David Anderson, Ronnie Campbell, Frank Cook, John McDonnell, Ann Cryer, Jeremy Corbyn, Janet Anderson, Robert N Wareing, Lynne Jones, Martin Caton, John Cummings, Janet Dean, Hywel Francis, David Hamilton, Kelvin Hopkins, Jim Devine, Alan Simpson, Alan Meale, Michael Clapham, Paul Flynn, Rudi Vis and Brian Jenkins.

"That this House notes the Tyne and Wear Metro is a successful integrated publicly-owned and publicly accountable railway achieving record levels of punctuality and passenger numbers and welcomes the vital role that the Metro plays in delivering high quality passenger services to the North East; further notes that the Metro's infrastructure and operations require significant investment and welcomes the Government's commitment to provide funds; is deeply concerned however that this funding may be dependent on fragmenting the Metro and privatising the Metro's operations and some of the Metro's infrastructure; notes that this is against the original proposal from Metro management who made the case that in order to provide best value there should be a vertically integrated railway within the whole of the Metro; believes that the best interests of passengers will be served by the Metro remaining as a unified railway in the public sector where every penny of funds invested is spent on improving passenger services; and fully supports the in-house bids that would keep the Tyne and Wear Metro in the public sector."

* For latest list of signatories visit: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=36172&SESSION=891