EWS MEMBERS PULL TOGETHER

www.rmt.org.uk :: june/july 2007 :: RMTnews 5 R MT’s General Grades Committee met with EWS groundstaff and engineering grades representatives at Unity House recently and pledged to redouble the union’s efforts to organise EWS workers. Earlier this year the union’s executive decided to establish a national organising strategy for EWS members to fight “disorganisation across the UK rail freight sector”. A new monthly EWS members’ newsletter informing RMT members about industrial relations, health and safety and legal developments is being distributed to RMT Regional Offices, Branches and Regional Councils, alongside workplace visits to major EWS depots and workshops. RMT Regional Council funds are available to pay loss of earnings and reasonable expenses where appropriate for EWS activists to carry out recruitment and organising activities as part of the national campaign. A series of special meetings for EWS members will be held in major rail centres to co- ordinate the campaign over coming months. As a first step RMT reps and activists have commenced a comprehensive mapping exercise of union membership across all EWS work locations based on the successful programme carried out in the last year by RMT’s South Wales & West Regional Council. The Regional Council decided in 2006 to pay loss of earnings to EWS activists who were prepared to carry out such reviews and recruit non- members into the union. Paul Walker, RMT Health and Safety representative for EWS members across the Midlands, said: “our immediate aim in the short term must be at the very least to have a network with an RMT contact person in every single EWS workplace.” RMT’s executive will shortly be discussing how to establish a formal EWS national organising committee. At the same time the union is involved in ongoing negotiations with EWS for a recognition and procedure agreement for local and company council representation. This has been delayed by a series of unreasonable demands by EWS for RMT to sign a ‘no strike’ agreement, which RMT has rejected. TAKEOVER The Financial Times reported recently that German rail company Deutsche Bahn (Freight) is considering spending up to 500 million euros to buy EWS and Spain's Transfesa. EWS is currently in talks with Deutsche Bahn. The message is clear: this is no time to put yourself at risk by being outside of trade union membership. Every RMT member at EWS should ensure that fellow EWS workers join RMT. R MT members in the Dagenham and Ripple Lane areas have taken a number of days of strike action and a week-long overtime ban recently against redundancies and the imposition of rosters. These actions have received 100 per cent support from the membership and management have been taken aback by the strength of feeling on the ground. RMT has sought a negotiated settlement for some months yet a number of union proposals to revise the rosters have all been rejected by management. “Local management are blaming everybody but themselves for this situation they have created by imposing rosters and manufacturing redundancies,” said general secretary Bob Crow. EWS MEMBERS PULL TOGETHER STRIKE ACTION AT EWS