Fury, as rail bosses receive big ‘secret’ bonuses, while front line staff get “stuffed”.
Front line staff at LNER, one of the UK's biggest train operators, have reacted with fury after learning that bosses have received 'secret' 'thank you' bonuses of £2,700 for helping run trains during Covid, while front line staff have received nothing. Front line staff includes drivers, train managers, train hosts, station staff and booking office clerks.
In an internal email LNER's People Director Paula Bullock thanks managers for their help during a “very challenging” period, stating “Our commercial and financial performance over the past couple of years has been strong, with revenue now beating pre-Covid levels” and that after conversing with the Department of Transport “We'll be making one off 'thank you' payments to all our managers”. Ms Bullock continues by telling managers that “We're now delivering on our five year business plan” and that LNER will soon be “in position to begin paying a premium to the Government once again.” Front line staff are subject to collective bargaining when it comes to pay awards.
One train driver commented “frontline staff who worked through COVID have been stuffed.” Another member of rai staff said “Every train operator has a 2% rise for staff built into their budget, it’s a crap pay rise but it’s something at least. To hear of bonuses like this for managers, who everyone knows did very little during Covid and didn’t put themselves at risk, is appalling.” Over at Great Western, an employee said: “Don't think we're allowed to tell you yet how many frontline staff died, were hospitalised, were rendered incapable of safety critical work, have lifelong circulatory or organ impairment because of Covid. At Great Western we put plaques in train cabs in memory of some of those who died.”
LNER defended the bonuses, saying “”Managers at LNER have received a thank you payment for leading teams through a challenging period for both LNER and the wider industry. Payments of this kind are not unusual.” The train operator recently came under heavy criticism for its 'fare simplification' which saw a whole raft of tickets have heavy restrictions applied, while simultaneously significantly raising the cost of fares.
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