NEW WESTERN BANNER UNVEILED

RMTnews :: january 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 26 L abour leadership contender and RMT parliamentary group convenor John McDonnell unveiled a stunning new South Wales and West of England RMT banner in a ceremony in Bristol recently. The Hayes and Harlington MP, alongside RMT general secretary Bob Crow, presided over the formal handing over of the banner by its creator, renowned banner-maker Ed Hall, to the union’s South Wales and West of England regional council. The front of the banner depicts the dramatic western portal of Box Tunnel - the most difficult engineering problem that Isambard Kingdom Brunel had to solve when building the Bristol to London line. It is a testament to the skill of the railway navvies, Brunel and his engineers that the Box Tunnel remains a functional element of the London Paddington to Bristol railway line. Emerging from the tunnel mouth are a ‘Castle’ class, steam engine of the Great Western Railway, built in GWR’s Swindon works and a ‘Intercity 125’ High Speed Train, built by British Rail Engineering Limited and officially the fastest diesel in the world. At the foot of the banner is the union’s motto, Unity is Strength in English, and Mewn undeb mae Nerth in Welsh. On the reverse of the banner the artist has recreated the Rhondda historical mural found at Trehafod railway station between Porth and Pontypridd in Rhondda-Cynon-Taff, South Wales. The mural represents the close relations between the miners and rail workers, depicting the production, extraction and distribution process of the South Wales mining industry from pithead in the Cynon valley via the Taff Vale Railway to Cardiff docks. Beneath the picture is the slogan: “We honour the Taff Vale railway strikers of 1900” and a quote from the 1906 Trade Disputes Act, which for the first time legalised the right to strike: “An action against a trade union … shall not be entertained in any court.” NEW WESTERN BANNER UNVEILED BANNER: Campaigning MP John McDonnell and banner creator Ed Hall present the new design