PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

september 2005 :: RMTnews 9 Former railway guard-turned author Helena Vojtczak signed copies of her book, Railway Women, launched on the RMT stand during TUC. Helena became the first woman employed as a guard by British Rail in 1977, and is now Britain's leading authority on the history of women rail workers. “Helena has made a substantial contribution to documenting the history of women’s involvement in the industry,” RMT president Tony Donaghey said. It is my great pleasure to be able to write as the newly- elected Member of Parliament for North Ayrshire and Arran and as a new member of the RMT parliamentary group. The railways and the maritime industry play a huge part in my constituency - which has eleven railway stations and two islands served by lifeline ferry services. I am looking forward to representing the views of transport workers and the rest of my constituents over the course of this parliament. I have just returned from Labour Party conference in Brighton. As I am sure you are all aware the conference was the centre of attention for many reasons. The media, however, did not give much attention to some of the key policy decisions being made. Delegates voted through policies put forward by the unions to support council housing, for decent pensions, against the privatisation of the health service and to enable workers to take “solidarity action” in certain circumstances. The decision to support councils being able to invest directly in council housing was passed for the second year running – but this year with a bigger majority. These decisions come on top of the 2004 Party Conference decision to take the railways back into public ownership. The leadership of the party will attempt to say that these decisions don’t matter and will try to ignore the democratic voice of conference. It is up to the labour movement to ensure that they do not succeed and make sure that these policies are implemented by a Labour government. I have joined the RMT group because I share many of your union’s aims. I know that your policy of returning the railways to public ownership is very much in my constituents’ and the country’s interests. Don’t forget it was the last Tory government that privatised the railways and that is where it will stay if they ever get back into office. I am deeply concerned about the fate of Caledonian MacBrayne ferries which the Scottish parliament has recently voted to put out to tender. These services are vital to many people in my constituency, without them they would be quite literally cut off from the rest of the world. In the debate on tendering in the Scottish parliament, MSP after MSP stood up and spoke against the tendering process, only to vote for it later on. I will be raising this matter in the House of Commons and asking the UK government to re-examine the issue with a view to ensuring that CalMac remains in the public sector. Tendering makes no economic sense and is not in the interests of the communities who rely on the service. The disgraceful treatment of the sacked Gate Gourmet workers at Heathrow shows clearly that the trade unions remain shackled by the Thatcherite anti- trade union legislation of the 1980s. That is why I will be supporting the Trade Union Freedom Bill which would go some way to redressing the balance which has been stacked against the trade union movement for so long. The Bill would make it easier for unions to organise lawful industrial action, including solidarity action in certain circumstances, and for workers taking lawful industrial action to be protected from dismissal. It is hoped that a private members bill will be put before parliament next year which is the centenary of the Trades Disputes Act 1906. Historically, this was a landmark piece of legislation for Labour - it overturned the Taff Vale House of Lords case where as many of you will the railway owners successfully sued your union for loss of profits after a strike. This judgement threatened all trade unions with legal liability for damage to employers’ interests as a result of industrial action – and so the 1906 Act was vital to give unions some legal protection. All our experience shows us that workers need more protection to take part in trade union activity. The proposal for the Trade Union Freedom Bill was carried at the recent TUC conference. The campaign to get this necessary piece of legislation onto the statute book and for the first time give us the right to be a member of a trade union, the right to strike and in certain circumstances the to take part in solidarity action will require the support of every trade unionist if we are to make it a reality in 2006. Katy Clark MP for North Ayrshire and Arran Bob Crow warned that despite the massive rejection of the constitution by the people of France and Holland, parts of the unratified document were still being imposed illegally. Delegates also reaffirmed opposition to the planned "Bolkestein Directive" on services, which allows privateers to set wages, conditions and social protection based on the company's country of origin - creating a "flag of convenience" economy. “We must bury the Directive on Services, because it will turn public services into cash-cows for the privateers and will institutionalise the abuse of imported labour to drive down pay and conditions. “RMT members already know what social dumping means. We have evidence of ferry crews employed in UK waters on well under half of the minimum wage, and we are fighting alongside our European colleagues to end it. “No-one in Scotland has voted for the privatisation of Caledonian MacBrayne’s lifeline ferry services, yet despite a vote against it in the Scottish parliament, Brussels is now telling the Scottish Executive that tendering of must go ahead, that is not democracy,” he said. “We are now on the third package of measures aimed at fragmenting and privatising Europe’s national rail networks on the very model that in Britain created the conditions for the Hatfield disaster and has drained more than £8 billion of public money from the industry. “The trade-union movement must throw its political weight behind a campaign to roll back the neo-liberal nightmare and defend our national democratic rights,” he said. HEROES TRIBUTE Congress paid tribute to the extraordinary efforts of the men and women involved in rescue operations after the July 7 London bombings. RMT member Olanayi Falayi was among those on stage during a minute’s silence to remember the victims. He was one of the first people on the scene at Aldgate where he spent more than an hour underground, getting the injured out of the damaged carriages and walking them along the track to safety. RMT delegate Janine Booth told TUC that the message to Tube employers and the government has to be: don’t praise us only to attack us. She said that if the government really respected Underground workers then they would reverse the Public-Private Partnership, fund the Tube and stop planned staffing cuts. RAILWAY WOMEN BOOK LAUNCHED AT TUC Parliamentary column FOR TRADE UNION FREEDOM A full review will appear in next month’s RMT News