LETTERS

RMTnews :: november 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 36 O rpington branch honoured its long-term members recently by presenting them with 40 and 25 year badges. From left to right: Steve Franks, Trevor Samson, Scott Debell, Arthur Walledge, Dean Cornwell, Mick Smith, RMT president John Leach, Ali Hussein, Mick Foulter, Ray Hopkins, Jimmy Walters, Mick McCarthy and branch secretary Paul Burton. Dear editor, In the October edition of RMT news is a letter from Exeter Rail branch secretary referring to my letter about funding for the local elections from the branch political fund. At the branch meeting October 4 the suggestion that I had somehow misled my comrades was put to me. I made it quite clear that the letter that I originally sent was heavily edited, possibly due to space available in the magazine, and therefore gave the wrong impression. It was most certainly the case that I expounded the view that the Labour Party was no longer worthy of the support of trade unionists or the "working classes" given that they have betrayed pretty much all that it once stood for. I also stated that I was standing for the Liberal Party, (not the Lib Dems) on the grounds that this party is closer to the principals of trade unionism and socialism than the party which still calls itself the Labour Party. On this basis I asked for support and this was given by the overwhelming majority of the members present, with nine in favour to one against and one abstention. Quite why my fellow comrades seem to want to differentiate between what I told them I was now standing for and just how they were prepared to support me is a matter for the individuals to decide but I was quite open in explaining my views on the Labour Party. Gordon Brown and his cohorts have no intention of re- nationalising the transport industry and are content to allow the creeping privatisation of the NHS. Why is it that there are still so many trade unionists who insist on closing their eyes to what is really happening? It is my view that we as trade unionists and socialists need to take a close look at where our monies and our votes go and a debate needs to take place on what ,if any influence the TUC now has on the modern Labour Party. We can of course vote for other parties such as George Galloway's Respect party or even vote communist but in Exeter the Liberal party has four seats on a hung council so in my opinion this is where I should be concentrating my efforts to ensure that my vote is effective. Yours sincerely, Rod Northcott Dear editor, Since the privatisation of our railways I have heard many a bizarre story of how things are in a total mess. I recently had an experience which beggars belief in September. At GNER’s main booking office I asked for two return tickets from Kings Cross to Markinch, Fife. I was told that it would be cheaper buying four singles, which I accepted. When handed the tickets I discovered, because we were returning on a Sunday, that a change of train was required at Dundee, which is nearly 30 miles north of Markinch. However, the booking clerk assured me this was the correct route and even fetched a supervisor who confirmed it was so. I demanded my money back and pointed out that anyone with any knowledge of the east coast of Scotland will know that Dundee is north of Markinch. Why travel to Dundee and back through Markinch to Edinburgh? Yet GNER insisted this was the correct route. The only other way is via Perth and Stirling which would require another change and, it being a Sunday, a long wait. I returned some days later to Kings Cross with my wife who could not believe this bizarre story. She was given the same cobblers as I was and we even asked the booking clerk to get the map on the screen. He accepted the evidence shown to him but still insisted this was the correct route. I hope some-one high up in GNER takes note. Joe Mitchell Dear Editor Why is the RMT promoting the interests of the Prison Officers Association? On the basis of my enemy's enemy is my friend? The campaign for full Union Rights and recognition should not be diluted and distracted by support for the virulently anti-working class and historically racist POA. Prison is an almost entirely working class experience - 80,000 and counting (a trebling in 30 years) - not full of murderers and rapists but in the main gaoling short term petty offenders and those caught feeding drug habits. There are few pension fund plunderers and corporate manslaughterers inside. The POA's main strategy in their recent industrial action is to achieve pay parity and status with the Police (also bound by no strike legislation). Indeed they regard themselves as the forgotten 'thin blue line' overlooked and ignored compared to the Police, with their generous pay and conditions. Can anyone recollect the POA standing up to be counted in ANY industrial dispute on the side of the workers EVER. Does the RMT support the BNP in its spurious call for a right to free speech so it can peddle its racist, anti-union /pro-boss rubbish? No, it has taken a political line and correctly adopts a No Platform for Fascists policy. I also noticed this issue the new RMT T-shirt proudly displays the ' Solidarity Forever' motto on the back. This slogan was popularised by the Wobblies (IWW) at the turn of the last century. Thousands of their supporters were imprisoned, many starved, beaten and murdered in America's prisons in their uncompromising stand for workers unity and control. It was Jay Gould a smug US industrialist who once boasted he could hire one half of the working class to scab on the other. Phil, Brighton RMT member ORPINGTON BRANCH CELEBRATES LETTERS