CENTRAL TRAINS TURNS STRIKE INTO LOCKOUT

RMTnews :: january 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 6 B ob Crow has been re-elected unopposed to serve a second five-year term as RMT general secretary from February 2007 after receiving 131 nominations from the union's 225 branches. Outgoing RMT president Tony Donaghey was delighted that one of his final duties as president was to announce that Bob Crow had been re- elected unopposed as general secretary of “our great and growing union”. "RMT membership has grown by a third from 56,000 when Bob became general secretary in 2002 to well over than 75,000 today, and the 100,000 benchmark is now well within our sights. "The union's finances have been completely turned around, enabling us to put more organisers out in the field, improve the service members receive and even open our own education centre,” Tony said. Bob said that it was the greatest honour to be able to serve as general secretary and an even greater honour to serve a second term. "The priorities remain the fight for jobs and better pay and conditions at work and continue building RMT membership, campaign for public transport to be returned to the public sector, and fight for trade-union rights," he said. C entral Trains bosses refused an RMT offer to suspend Christmas and New Year strike action by 550 senior conductors to hold talks over the imposition of centralised rostering and closed the railway for three days. RMT’s offer to suspend strike action to hold talks on a seven- point peace plan was turned down flat by the company, which has instead ran no services and locked out all staff. RMT general secretary Bob Crow was concerned that Central Trains was not interested in reaching a deal. "We held out an olive branch to Central Trains but they chose simply to ignore it, which raises the fear that public money is once more being used to back a rail employer against its employees in an industrial dispute. "If taxpayers’ cash is being handed to Central Trains to indemnify them against losses and penalties arising from a dispute the company has engineered itself, it would explain why they have walked away from talks. "Central should understand that if they are to settle this dispute they must thrash out the issues involved around the talks table," Bob Crow said. RMT conductors voted by a margin of more than six to one to strike over the imposition of centralised rostering and to take action over the company’s attempt to give conductors a worse Christmas-working deal than other staff. A local RMT campaign to expand rail services from Wrexham to London has paid off following an announcement from the Welsh Assembly Government that an offer of funding has been made for Network Rail to construct a new railway depot at Wrexham. The new depot could pave the way for extra rail services from Wrexham which could see up to five trains a day running from London to Wrexham from June 2007 and create more jobs locally within the railway industry. Plaid Cymru's North Wales AM Janet Ryder has actively backed the campaign begun over two years ago by RMT Wrexham branch secretary and local Councillor Dave Bithell to develop new rail services to London from Wrexham. In September 2004, Dave Bithell submitted a proposal to the Executive Board of Wrexham County Borough Council which sought to establish a new rail service to London. Ms Ryder has repeatedly raised the issue with the Transport Minister in the National Assembly following a series of recent meetings with the Leader of Wrexham County Borough Council. Ms Ryder said: "I am delighted that the campaign started by Cllr Dave Bithel over two years ago seems now to be paying off at last and he and the RMT union deserve congratulating for all their efforts so far to establish this new service, and with it these valuable jobs, in Wrexham”. Welsh Minister for Enterprise, Innovation & Networks Andrew Davies said that this investment in the railway infrastructure will lead to the creation of 55 new and permanent employment opportunities. CENTRAL TRAINS TURNS STRIKE INTO LOCKOUT BOB CROW RE-ELECTED UNOPPOSED WREXHAM RAIL CAMPAIGN PAYS OFF