Alstom’s future ‘looking bright’

Unite last month celebrated news that a major new order will preserve jobs at the Derby train maker Alstom.

The order includes 12 new trains for the Elizabeth Line in London in an agreement between the Department for Transport, Transport for London and Alstom that was finalised in June.

Unite members at the train manufacturer breathed a collective sigh of relief that the order means their futures are for now secured. They spoke out on what this news means for them in the film below:

While Unite welcomed the announcement, the union was highly critical of the previous Conservative government’s nearly year-long delay in signing the contract, which resulted in job losses at Alstom and in its supply chain, with a number of the company’s contractors going out of business and the very existence of the train building company in Derby being placed in grave doubt.

Commenting on the announcement, Unite East Midlands regional secretary Paresh Patel said, “This has been a long hard slog and Unite has stood squarely with its members throughout this uncertainty. Unite will now be working to ensure there is a continued supply of orders for new rolling stock and to ensure that the threats to the future of Alstom and train making in Derby are never repeated.”

Film by Alice Grice