NEW EIRE BRANCH

RMT general secretary Bob Crow and national secretary Steve Todd attended the launch of the new Eire shipping branch recently for members working on the Stena line from Rosslare to Fishguard. Steve Todd said that for many years former NUS and latterly RMT members always had a branch in southern Ireland in addition to the one in the north. The branch in the south was mostly made up from members in Dublin and was therefore based in Dublin. “Obviously as time marched on less and less of our members ceased to either live or work in the Dublin area, either through retirement redundancy or other reasons. “Most of the membership in the Irish Republic these days are based in the Rosslare, Wexford area mainly working for Stena on the ferries,” he said. He said that members in the area were very active in negotiations with employers but felt that with no branch there was no opportunity to play a role in the wider affairs and democracy of the union. Both Bob Crow and Steve Todd were delighted to address the members and discuss the various issues that affect them. Eire shipping branch secretary Declan Roche said that it was the first of many meetings which would follow in Rosslare on a regular basis. “We now have over 80 members and if there is a need to hold meetings in other key areas such as Dublin this will be considered as well,” he said. Declan said that the next branch meeting would include a showing of RMT’s new DVD dealing with the Lisbon Treaty and the threat to workers’ rights. “We had a referendum last June on the Lisbon Treaty and the Irish people voted no. “I believe it is fundamentally undemocratic to force us to vote again and we’ll be campaigning for another no vote,” he said. RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2009 :: RMTnews 5 NEW BRANCH FOR EIRE Union re-establishes shipping branch for members in the Republic of Ireland EIRE WE GO: Left to right Bob Crow, Steve Todd, Eire branch secretary Declan Roche, branch chair Billy Naesons and regional organiser John Tilley