Cuba visit / Presidents column

LOU Reed’s soft tones “Oh what a perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you!” perfectly summed up my Mayday in Cuba earlier this year. There I was, aged 53, sat on the edge of my bed like some schoolboy who couldn’t wait for Christmas to come. It was 5am, Saturday May 1 in Havana Cuba. Not only am I fulfilling a lifelong dream to visit Cuba. I am going to the famous Plaza de Revolucion. Along with other workers and trade unionists, I was about to join a rally for the workers’ day and listen to speakers from across the globe. And I am not ashamed to admit it, I was excited. The coach arrives and I get that deja vu feeling. We are all dressed in the red T-shirts with ‘1 de Mayo’ printed on them, given to us by our comrades, almost like we were going to a football match. As we glide through the back streets of Cuba on a still and silent morning, I watch the thronging crowd. Hundreds of thousands of people all have the same aim, to get to the biggest game of them all. The excitement builds as we near the Plaza and suddenly we are directed into a special area for international delegates. The security is tight as we pass through the barriers. We start to approach a small hill, as we hit the top, we hear the people chanting before we see them. “Viva la revolution! Viva! Viva Cuba! Viva!, Viva Che! Viva, Viva Fidel! VIVA!” We come level with the crowd and they go wild as they see us, waving flags and banners of all kinds. They shout to us to come over to speak. When we do, we are overwhelmed by genuine love and affection. It’s one of the most humbling feelings I have ever experienced, I couldn’t help but feel that, I just don’t deserve it. Here I was a railway worker from England, stood in this magnificent plaza with all these amazing people. I have to say, I may have had my feet on the ground but I was walking on air. We had to walk about a quarter of a mile along to the plaza. All the time the crowd A perfect A perfect Ma Mayda yday in y in Havana Havana RMT member Greg Hewitt shares his reflections on a union delegation to Cuba earlier this year SOLIDARITY: RMT delegation of Tony Donaghey, Bob Crow, Peter Hall and Stan Herschel mix with a Venezuelan delegation on May day The Cuban people are suffering the effects of the illegal US blockade, which has been condemned by the United Nations.To break the blockade over 100 countries have organised the export of various essential goods to help the Cuban People. In association with the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the RMT will be sending a container ship to Cuba in October. RMT will be focusing on supporting Cuba's achievements in the care and education of young children and in medical advances. You can help by G Sending a donation of £10 to help fund the purchase of essential medical equipment and building materials. Cheque payable to “RMT Container for Cuba” and send to RMT Cuba Container, Unity House, 39 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD. G Sending educational materials, children’s toys and old computers to one of two storage locations in either London or Liverpool. If you wish to donate material please contact campaign organiser Tony Santamera on 07968 590085. RMT CONTAINER FOR CUBA 30 L AST month I was privileged to chair my first Annual General Meeting as your union’s president in Portsmouth, a town steeped in maritime history. It is at these annual parliaments that you can clearly see the open, active and campaigning nature of our great union. This is reflected in the huge rise in membership over the past year, which is the real litmus test for the work of the RMT. None of that work would be possible without the dedication of RMT branches, reps, regional officials, recruitment officers and all staff. Conference resolutions also showed us the huge amount that remains to be done for members in all grades. However, we have been able to celebrate some great victories, not least the great result at Network Rail where workers successfully defended their pension rights. Make no mistake, this was a significant victory in defence of decent final-salary pensions. Our members at Wightlink ferries, based in Portsmouth, achieved a similar victory a couple of years ago using the same tactics. There can be no doubt that showing employers that we mean business helps to concentrate their minds. We must also build the campaign to restore the link between pensions and earnings. The AGM made clear its opposition to the privatised nature of the transport industry in this country. Private companies are now receiving more taxpayers’ money than spent under nationalisation, while attacking our members’ condition. That is a national scandal. We are building alliances inside and outside parliament to force a fundamental re-think of rail privatisation. Any government worth its salt would not tolerate this unacceptable situation. But this is not any government, this lot refuses to act in workers interests and openly defend employers in their efforts to maximise profits by using Tory anti-union laws. Despite this our parliamentary group, led by John McDonnell MP, has played an outstanding role in representing the interests of RMT members. Fundamental to all these struggles is the vital importance of organising for a “massive Yes vote” in the forthcoming political fund ballot. As I told delegates, the political fund is not about the Labour Party or any other party. The legal process was introduced as part of the Tory anti-union laws in an attempt to stop unions having a political voice. This has not worked as our union has consistently voted to have such a fund. A victory in the political ballot will allow the union to continue our political campaigning on industrial issues. Conference also discussed the dangers posed by the imposition of a European Union constitution, which would transfer huge powers from parliament to the unelected Commission sitting in Brussels. From the Chartists to the founding of the Labour Party, trade unions were the mainstay in the battle for democracy in this country for centuries. To allow ever more powers to be transferred to Brussels would be betrayal to those struggles. On the international front, we must demand an end to wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine and oppose the warmongering policies of the US under President Bush. From Cuba, where the Bush administration is trying to cripple the people with an illegal economic blockade, to Ireland, whose people demand full implementation of the Good Friday accords, the union must be guided by our slogan: ‘Workers of all countries unite’. TONY DONAGHEY - RMT PRESIDENT At the union’s parliament 31 CHAIR: RMT president Tony Donaghey presides over conference were calling to us “eh campenero!” (comrade). Any time we went near them we were grabbed for photographs. Finally we arrived, right in the middle of the Plaza de Revolucion. It was still only 7am. We spoke to many delegates from all over the world. Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Japan, America, Africa, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Venezuela, Australia. But the show had only just begun. For two hours we were treated to what one can only describe as a kind of cabaret. The type of thing you see at an opening to the Olympics with dancers and some of Cuba’s premier singers and bands. This was interspersed with speeches given by comrades from all over the world. After all the speeches the familiar cry went up again and again. VIVA! Finally at 9am a hush came over the crowd. There were no fanfares, no fuss. Fidel just appeared from out of the crowd waving a small Cuban flag. The people went mad. I have never heard such a noise. Fidel then spoke for two hours, without a break, in the searing heat, by now somewhere in the high 80s – not bad for a Man of 78. When he finished, the crowd sang the Cuban national anthem. Then in a spontaneous outburst over a million people joined hands and sang the International, all in different languages but the same tune. Well, how do I describe it? It was beyond words. My skin shivered and I was overwhelmed by the magnificence of it all. For a moment I was dumbstruck. Afterwards I realised I saw something that day. I saw a leader who is loved by his people. I saw no guns or bayonets forcing anyone anywhere and no police pushing anyone. What I did see was a peace loving, free people give a genuine outpouring of support to their leader or as they call him “Comandante”. A moment that will be imprinted in my memory forever, and a “perfect day I wanted to share with you”. I hope I have done just that. FIDEL: Over a million Cubans flock to hear Commandante Fidel Castro on Mayday in Havana