ROAD FREIGHT CONFERENCE

RMTnews :: june/july 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 26 Conference president Pete Daniels pointed out to delegates that the last time the conference met in Plymouth was in 1975 and that the first resolution back then, from Bournemouth branch, called for workers to be paid night enhancement through the holiday period. A delegate himself at that conference, Pete said that many of the things that the union was fighting for back then were still being fought for now. The union used to have a large membership in a small group of companies in road- freight but fragmentation of the industry meant that the membership was now smaller, spread among 30 companies. In spite of this, attendance at the conference was slightly up on last year. BUILDING THE UNION Senior assistant general secretary Mick Cash asked conference: “Which is the largest specialist transport union in the UK?” asked. The answer, of course, was RMT. Mick told conference that the union needed to grow on buses and on the roads as well as on trains and to do that means organising where members currently are and also in new places. “The strength of the union is that it is member-led, very democratic, and good at doing things in the workplace once it has its foot in the door. “Part of the problem that fragmentation has brought has been that some companies who are anti-union use dirty tricks, such as employing staff under a new company name, to throw out recognition agreements,” he said. However, Mick argued that “no employer can undermine you if you have good representation. Good organisation is the best line of defence and attack… We get and keep members through what we do in the workplace”. ROAD FREIGHT CONFERENCE 2007 Delegates pledged to organise and recruit at last month’s road-freight grades’ conference in Plymouth “Good organisation is the best line of defence and attack”