Equality

Equality Conferences in 2005 ALL three equality conferences provide the opportunity for ordinary members to share their experiences either in relation to work or in the union. All are welcoming – no-one is left isolated. Members may be nervous about putting themselves forward if they have not participated in union events before. However, it would be great to see you there. Remember, childcare facilities are provided. If you want to be nominated, contact your branch secretary now! The details are as follows:- RMT National Women’s Conference, Poole - 2 March 2005 G RMT National Black & Ethnic Minority Members’ Conference, Birmingham - 16 March 2005 G RMT National Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Members’ Conference, Birmingham - 22 April 2005 Regional Women’s Advisory Committees The inaugural meeting of the women’s advisory committee of South Wales and South West regional council is to take place on Saturday February 5 2005 at 12 noon. The venue is the RMT regional office in Bristol, Transport House, Victoria Street, Bristol, BS1 6AY. Branches have been asked to elect two delegates. Thanks are given to sister Glen Burrows who has worked hard to set this committee up. The union wishes Glen and all those concerned the best of luck. Who next? Which regional council will be the next to set up a committee? Remember, all regional councils are encouraged to establish advisory committees, not just for women but for our black and ethnic minority members and our lesbian, gay and bisexual members too. If your regional council thinks it would be helpful if someone from the national committee should come along and talk about the purpose of such committees, then that can be arranged. Just drop a line to Unity House. RMT’s LESBIAN, Gay & Bisexual Members’ Advisory Committee is keen for more members to become active within the union. There are still vacancies on the National Committee and the union wants to encourage our LGB members to participate at a regional and branch level through regional/branch advisory committees. If you would like more information, please contact your branch secretary or email p.wilkinson@rmt.org.uk for further details. At the last meeting the question monitoring for sexual orientation on the union’s membership system was talked about. Obviously if we did this, it would enable direct mailing to take place but RMT is aware of the sensitivity of asking this question on the membership application form. As a first step, in the forthcoming LGB Newsletter, RMT will conduct a survey to test opinion amongst LGB members. From the meeting, it was clear that there are issues that directly concern LGB members, from same-sex pension rights to what its like being gay working in the transport industry. Committee members spoke of their feeling of isolation, especially in regard to the same tired homophobic jokes being bandied about in the workplace. The advisory committee meeting are an opportunity to talk about these issues with others. The opportunity is there for you too – why don’t you take it? Open letter to London major Ken Livingstone from RMT Dear Ken, I wrote to you in September and again in November asking that we meet as a matter of urgency to discuss Tranport for London’s Equality and Inclusion Agenda. You have not responded or acknowledged these requests. Hence my open letter to you now in the hope that this will elicit a response. Equality is an issue that I am proud to have worked in partnership on with London Underground. Equality targets, the accredited managers programme, harassment policy and procedure are just a few of the issues we tackled jointly with London Underground and our sister unions. These policies gave our black and ethnic minority and women members hope that their everyday working lives would improve. Managers and others were at last listening to them and taking issues adversely impacting upon them seriously. We are talking here about race and sex discrimination. One of the important lessons I thought we had all learnt was that attitudes will not change overnight nor within a couple of years. I thought we had all committed ourselves to long-term partnership to drive through change for the better. However, the dedicated Equality Unit at London Underground has been wound up and we do not know what it will be replaced with - no one is talking to us. Talks at ACAS prevented me attending the ‘thank you’ event to celebrate the changes achieved over the past five years by the LU Equality Team. Only a couple of senior managers were present. Moreover, the winding up of the dedicated Equality Unit was not something we would wish to celebrate. We in RMT would like to put on record our thanks to those in the Unit, especially Terry Day, who at times worked against the odds striving for change. However, who is to deliver equality now? I firmly believe, that we need to talk about what sort of structure should be part of TfL’s Equality and Inclusion Agenda. Equality cannot be imposed from the top, it simply does not work. Equality issues need to be part of a dialogue with all concerned, whether management, Unions and importantly those most affected. We have consulted our members and have constructive proposals to put. We are ready to talk and hope that you are too. Sincerely, Equalitymatters Out and about PRIDE: RMT members at Brighton’s gay pride event earlier this year RMT’s Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Members’ Advisory Committee 30