Regional elections

RMT news – Essential reading for today ’s transport worker THE RMT Annual General Meeting in Portsmouth this year decided to establish two new positions of relief regional organiser, one to be elected from and to cover the north, and one from the south. The elections for these posts will be combined with those of other regional organiser positions which are up for election this year, with new terms of office starting on January 1 2005, running for five years to December 31 2009. Present incumbents are eligible to stand for re- election, but nobody can stand in more than one regional organiser election. Regional organisers are elected by individual members of the union in the relevant region: they represent all members in the region, across all grades and industries and also have responsibility for company- wide negotiations. Day to day, they act under the direction of the general secretary and the Council of Executives and are supported by the relevant regional office. The main duties of the position are: G to organise members in the region, with the assistance of the regional council, including recruitment and retention of members, in conjunction with the organising unit G to visit branches and workplaces G to represent individual members at company or industry level and at employment tribunals G to attend collective bargaining negotiations at local company level Nominations open on Thursday July 15 and close on Wednesday October 6. AGM votes for two relief regional organiser positions Region Regional organisers Relief regional organisers 1, Scotland One regional organiser (the other regional organiser position was filled from January 1 2004 following a by-election) 2&3 combined, Manchester, North Wales & North West The AGM decided to keep these two regions combined for the purposes of this election, therefore there are two elections in this region 4, North East One regional organiser 5, Yorkshire & Lincolnshire One regional organiser 6, Midlands One regional organiser One relief regional organiser to be elected by and to cover these regions (north) 7, South Wales & West This Region was previously combined with Region 8 (below). However, the AGM decided that the two regions should be separated. Therefore there is an election for one regional organiser in this region. 8, South West One regional organiser (see above) 9, South East One regional organiser 10, London & Anglia One regional organiser 11, London Transport One regional organiser One relief regional organiser to be elected by and to cover these regions (south) The schedule above sets out the available positions Making waves over tonnage tax RMT’S PARLIAMENTARY group also secured a meeting between the Paymaster General, Dawn Primarolo and RMT officials, together with Labour MPs, to discuss the need for a link between the tax concession for ship owners to training and employment. There has also been a meeting with the shipping minister David Jamison. The union provided figures that support the case, along with details of redundancies in recent years for UK seafaring ratings and ministers have promised to examine the case. This campaign would not be possible without the political fund RMT shipping secretary Steve Todd said that it was scandalous that ship-owners should be allowed to fly the red ensign and receive handouts from British taxpayers through the tonnage tax while shedding UK ratings and paying poverty wages. “We have evidence of UK-registered vessels employing foreign seafarers at half the minimum wage and working long hours,” he said. Flag of convenience The International Transport Workers Federation recently unanimously backed an RMT proposal, supported by NEWMAST, to declare any UK-registered ships with unacceptable employment conditions an FOC vessel on a ship-by-ship basis. The ITF fair practice committee meeting in Singapore agreed to instruct its inspectors to investigate on board conditions of suspect ships. “Shipowners need to understand that those that use the UK flag as a cloak of respectability while exploiting seafarers will be exposed,” Steve Todd told the meeting. Nearly 150 MPs have signed early day motion 880, demanding a link between the tonnage tax and jobs and training for UK seafarers Miles Platting branch Nominates John McDonald For Northern relief organiser Simply the best Manchester South branch Nominates Andy Warnock-Smith for North West & Wales Organiser & Bill Anderson for Manchester & North West organiser Bridgend & Llantrisant branch nominates its secretary Peter Skelly for southern relief organiser and for the re-election of Brian Curtis Manchester South branch Nominates their secretary John MacDonald for Northern relief organiser and would appreciate further support 6