RAIL workers have vowed to fight bosses’ plans for redundancies throughout the industry.

The RMT union said today that the job cuts threatened to “decimate” the sector at a time when it needed to be rebuilt following the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

Its call came as publicly owned Network Rail, which is responsible for maintaining the network’s infrastructure, launched the jobs cull, with managers the first to be targeted.

Profiteering operators plan to follow suit, the RMT said, warning that the workforce reduction would “seriously compromise rail safety as key teams and functions are diluted and taken apart.”

General secretary Mick Lynch said: “Network Rail and the train-operating companies are seeking to move ahead with a jobs cull in the rail industry from this morning, which seeks to take advantage of the Covid crisis to deliver a devastating short-term cuts agenda.

“RMT entirely condemns this approach, which will commence even before there have been any real discussions with the trade unions on the employers’ proposals for the future of the industry.

“RMT is prepared to campaign and fight, including through industrial action if necessary, to save jobs and resist a drive towards compulsory redundancies as we protect our members pay, conditions, pensions and safety standards.”

White-collar rail union TSSA also condemned the “kamikaze” job cuts, which general secretary Manuel Cortes described as “a disaster for the safety of our rail network.”

“Our union is already in dispute with Network Rail and I will be speaking to our colleagues in the other rail unions about the possibility of co-ordinated industrial action next month,” he said.