NEWS

RMTnews :: december 2006 :: www.rmt.org.uk 28 P reparations are well underway for the first of the RMT’s National Conferences for 2007. The fifth National Health and Safety Conference will be held at the Cliffs Hotel in Blackpool on Thursday March 15 2007. Delegate nomination forms and requests for motions have been sent out and health and safety reps who wish to attend conference should see their branch secretary for a form. Conference is held under the banner of a particular theme. This year the Health and Safety Advisory Committee have chosen the theme “welfare – the poor relation of health and safety”. The meeting is open to all RMT- accredited health and safety representatives from all sectors in which the union organises. It is an ideal opportunity to meet reps from other industries, hear speakers on the conference theme and debate general health and safety resolutions submitted by branches. Speakers confirmed to attend so far include Hilda Palmer from Greater Manchester Hazards Centre and Dr Olivia Carlton, Head of LUL’s Occupational Health and Safety Unit and a representative from HMRI. Branches who wish to submit motions, which should be relevant to the transport sector as a whole, for debate at conference should do so by the end of January 2007. L incoln no1 branch chairman Dudley Bunning presented three members, Rex Beech, Pete Lewis and Colin Fields with 40- year awards at a social event recently. Eight members receiving 25-year awards were Keith Adams, Lou Chan, Mark Cuppleditch, Tom Hirons, Simon Kemp, Mark Perry, Tony Day and Don Turner. Branch secretary Ade Wildsmith passed on the thanks of the union for the loyal support all these members had given and food and drinks followed. LINCOLN CELEBRATES 320 YEARS OF SERVICE Pictured left to right: Ade Wildsmith, Colin Fields, Keith Adams, Tony Day, Lou Chan, chair Dudley Bunning and Pete Lewis. WELFARE – THE POOR RELATION OF HEALTH AND SAFETY www.rmt.org.uk :: december 2006 :: RMTnews 29 R MT member Yvonne Scarrot celebrated her 40th birthday recently by running in the Toronto marathon in Canada, raising about £360 for charity. Yvonne had planned to run in the London marathon for charity earlier in the year but she was unwell and advised not to run. She had a great run, but due to very windy conditions she finished three minutes off her personal best and completed in three hours 21 minutes. Nevertheless Yvonne finished 16th and even managed to beat some of the elite runners. “I would like to thank all that sponsored me, and will be on the start line in London 2007,” she said. WE SHALL REMEMBER YVONNE TAKES ON ANOTHER MARATHON Orphan fund calendars for sale! Calendars featuring either steam trains, modern trains or vintage buses are available for £5 each . Orphan fund diaries also available for £2 Please send your order to Mark Harding Orphan Fund Unity House 39 Chalton Street London NW1 1JD RMT national officer Steve Todd laid a wreath on behalf of the union last month at Tower Hill in London in memory of over 30,000 merchant seamen that lost their lives during the fight against fascism. RMTnews :: december 2006 :: www.rmt.org.uk 30 INTERNATIONAL FOCUS V enezuelan President Hugo Chavez took over the controls of a new Japanese- made train in the capital Caracas last month. The popular nationalist leader inaugurated the new billion pound rail line which will transport tens of thousands of people to and from working class suburbs. A one-way ticket will cost less than a pound. F rench rail workers have won concessions from the national rail operator (SNCF), following a strike by six of France’s eight rail unions that disrupted the system for 36 hours in November. In a letter to each union general secretary, Anne-Marie Idrac, the new SNCF president, facing her first strike, confirmed the operator will hire 1,000 employees in 2007 in addition to 1,000 more drivers, that 200 ticket office jobs would go instead of 1,000 originally earmarked and that the company’s ailing freight operation would not be restructured into a separate company. Wage talks will begin in February. Didier Le Reste, the general secretary of the CGT rail union, which represents almost half the workforce, said the strike was to fight to keep the railways as a public service, for salaries, jobs – 14,000 have gone since 2002 - and for the future of SNCF’s freight activity, which is being “jeopardised by the European Union’s policies. All the countries that have liberalised their freight activity have seen a fall in business,” he said. D emonstrators marched in many Italian cities in November, during national protests against the government’s planned austerity measures. Rail, air and local transport workers joined in nationwide strikes against the government's 2007 draft budget. Strikers also called for the government to abandon plans to slash pensions and demanded more spending on social programmes. Morena Piccinini, a senior official at Italy's largest union Cgilm, said: "If the government goes ahead with the pension bill, we can't rule out further industrial action". Rome is having difficulty meeting strict economic rules for staying within the eurozone. B ritish ratings working on the Dieppe - Newhaven route held a four-hour strike supported by their French colleagues recently. The strike on board the Dieppe was in protest at the seafarers’ programmed dismissal by the Compagnie Maritime d’Orbigny (CMO) following delivery of the 142-metre Seven Sisters on October 21. Compensation won from the Seine Maritime district council, the route’s owner, was lower than RMT’s claim but higher than management’s offer. The 600-passenger, 62-lorry ferry joined its sister ship Côte d’Albâtre, delivered last March. The Spanish-built vessel is operated by 40-strong, mostly French crews under the full French flag. SOLIDARITY: The banner reads 'Cut to public schools spending. Stop Now'. CHAVEZ IN THE DRIVING SEAT BRITISH RATINGS STRIKE ON FRENCH FERRY ITALY MARCHES AGAINST AUSTERITY FRENCH RAIL STRIKE WINS CONCESSIONS