Searchable article text
RMT news – Essential reading for today ’s transport worker Youth award winner Yvonne McMurtrie reflects on her experiences at the union’s annual youth course AFTER speaking to everyone about the course and its contents, the general consensus was that it was fantastic. Comments included highly informative, empowering, should be more widely available and, most of all, fun. During the week-long course, which was run alongside the union’s annual general meeting in Portsmouth, we had a few things set out for us by education officer Ray Spry-Shute. Sessions involved looking through the rule book, and looking up certain things, for example, the role of the Council of Executives. The best part of the week was Thursday, when we had our own “mini AGM” where for home work on Wednesday, we were asked to split into pairs and come up with two resolutions to put forward, argue against, and vote for. We learned how best to put these resolutions across as Ray, who took on the role of chair, had been taking notes about our public speaking and how we had written the resolutions out. He made suggestions that some may have put down too much information, or hadn’t replied properly to the people who were against the issue. He also pointed out that maybe some didn’t take it too seriously, particularly as one of the teams (Kath Dulson and Dave Giles) had asked for a resolution for Jelly and Ice cream to be provided to the young members of the RMT at the AGM! So, that’s pretty much all I can say about that, but I have been asked by the rest of the group to state delegates felt that our age was brought up a little too often by AGM delegates, in the sense that we were constantly referred to as “the kids” This lowered the mood of the YRMT group. I’ve also been asked to state that the average age of the YRMT group was 28, so not exactly kids, and most of us have been in the transport industry and members of the union for more than five years, so therefore old enough to be delegate at the AGM without being part of the young members’ section. Youth on the move RAIL worker Michael Smith, from Allerton in Liverpool, who was run down by a freight train and badly injured, has been awarded £1,025,000 compensation to pay for his long-term care. Mr Smith, who was a very active union rep, was knocked down by a car transporter train in September 1997 when he was working on railway sidings at Speke. At a previous hearing his employers, English, Welsh & Scottish Railways, were found liable for the accident and will pay the compensation ordered by the High Court in London. Mr Smith suffered serious life-threatening injuries which have left him permanently disabled, physically and mentally. He now needs 24-hour care and his wife, Geraldine, spends much of her time caring for her husband. He explained that compen- sation award means he will be able to pay for the equipment and care he needs. “This is a lot of money but every penny is spoken for. The Court worked out how much money we have lost due to me not working any more, and then looked at the full-time care, the medical treatment and the equipment I will need to help me make life a bit better. “So all this money will be made to work hard to ensure that Geraldine can have help with looking after me. “It’s awful to be dependent on others, but the accident has devastated me both physically and mentally,” he said. Mr Smith suffered permanent brain injury, a serious spinal injury, shoulder injury and fully depends upon his wife for many daily needs and he will never work again. The compensation means that he can live a better life by receiving the right level of care and be able to buy the equipment he needs. It was argued that EWS should meet all the costs that the Smiths now face due to the accident. This covers everything from medicine and treatment to a specially adapted vehicle and home help. Disabled rail worker wins £1 million damages ON COURSE: Yvonne (centre) with youth delegates and president Tony Donaghey and education officer Ray Spry-Shute Assaults on transport staff rise RMT called for the return of train guards, more station staff and bus conductors last month to stem the rising tide of attacks on staff. Recent British Transport Police figures show a 14 per cent increase in violent crime across the rail network. On London’s Tube, the situation is even worse, with a 22 per cent increase in violent crime and a staggering 29 per cent rise in assaults on staff. Attacks on Tube workers now account for a third of all reported assaults. In one particularly nasty case a station assistant is in danger of losing his spleen. There are countless cases of staff being spat at and assaults which may leave no physical marks but leave victims psychologically scarred. “We need adequate staff on every station all the time they are open and a guard on every train, including on the Tube,” general secretary Bob Crow said. “Our members bear the brunt of aggressive, drunken behaviour, particularly at night and when working alone, or receive abuse and threats from commuters frustrated by late-running trains. “For too long rail employers have cut staff simply to save money, and the price has been an increase in assaults against our members,” he said. The union said that CCTV cameras could help, but there was no substitute for an adequate presence of uniformed staff, backed up by a zero- tolerance policy from rail employers and a properly resourced and responsive transport police force. The trend to cut jobs has been encouraged by a succession of ministers that set subsidy levels too low to maintain adequate staffing levels and allowed the de-staffing of stations and driver-only operations. 6