blog Public services RMT will fight plans to privatise Royal Fleet Auxiliary 
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RMT will fight plans to privatise Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Ministers are currently considering plans to privatise the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, a move that will risk thousands of jobs.The Royal Fleet Auxiliary delivers fuel, food stores and ammunition to the navy. Two years ago, a review of the RFA found that it should remain in state ownership until at least 2020. However, financial problems mean that more services are threatened with privatisation.
Bob Crow, General Secretary, RMT said:
"It is a national disgrace that top of the list for Government public spendind cuts and privatisation is the Royal fleet Auxiliary- the essential lifeline to Royal Navy vessels on active service all around the globe.
"RMT will mobilise to fight this plan which would amount to an act of short term suicide that would rob the navy of over a hundred years of years of experience in the dash for public spending cuts and private profits. RMT is seeking an urgent meeting with Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth to prevent this act of vandalism from reaching the pre-Budget report.”
Steve Todd, RMT National Maritime Secretary, said: “Thousands of skilled merchant seafarers, serving the Royal Navy in war zones around the world and here at home, face the prospect of being slung on the scrap heap. That is a disgraceful kick in the teeth to brave seafarers who have played a vital role in conflict after conflict with many paying the ultimate price with their lives.”
