GROWING SOLIDARITY

L ooking at Priscilla Dada’s busy schedule it is clear why she scooped RMT’s young member of the year award. When Priscilla is not putting in a shift at Canada Water Tube station on the Jubilee line as a customer services assistant, she still takes a keen interest in her union as both a learner rep and a health and safety rep. This is despite the fact she joined the union less than three years ago. So how did she get involved? “I met a friend on the training course for station staff and she was in RMT. “Her brother was already a train operator and after talking to her it became clear that RMT was the union for me,” she says. She points out that she likes the idea of an all-grades union which rejected the idea of sectionalism. “Whatever grade you are, we are all together ready to defend each other. “I like that sense of solidarity,” she says. Priscilla got involved after meeting her branch secretary Jason Humphreys who encouraged her to take part in various union activities. Today, she also serves on the liaison committee for young members, the black and ethnic advisory committee and attended this year’s women’s conference in Gloucester. “Jason steered me through the union structures, which can be a bit intimidating to new members,” she says. As a result, she is looking forward to going to the union’s annual general meeting in Dublin this year to pick up her award and to see the governing body of the union in action. Priscilla already shows a distinct aptitude for picking up union rules by pointing out that she will to have to wait for five years in membership before she can attend as a delegate. This year’s award winner is already a picket line veteran after taking part in the Tube station staff strike over rosters. “We still have problems with understaffing and other issues crop up but being in the union means you can raise things without fear,” she says. So what does Priscilla like and dislike about her union? “I like getting RMT News each month to see what is going on with other grades and industries as well as London Underground,” she says. She thinks the union could do more to inform new members on how to get involved as often people just don’t know where to begin. “Not everyone is lucky enough to have a branch secretary like Jason,” she says before bursting into fits of laughter. Outside union activities, Priscilla enjoys watching football, particularly her beloved Liverpool. When asked why she picked a Merseyside team when Priscilla is from deepest south east London, she explains that a certain high-scoring moustachioed Liverpool player, who captained Wales many times, caught her eye in her formative years and she was smitten. Priscilla is looking forward to going to other branch meetings to see if things are done any differently. So keep an eye out as this year’s award winner may well pop up in a meeting near you some time soon. www.rmt.org.uk :: march 2006 :: RMTnews 5 Growing solidarity! London Underground worker Priscilla Dada speaks to RMT News about becoming young member of the year