PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2009 :: RMTnews treaty obligation to establish a neo-liberal economic model, something that is not even in the US Constitution. Downward pressure on wages and the steady erosion of workers’ rights have clearly not impressed Irish workers. Add to this the massive economic crisis brought about by increasingly discredited neo- liberal economics — which become constitutional goals if Lisbon is ratified — and Brussels may have real trouble selling more of the same medicine as a legal requirement. Frank pointed out that even those who supported the Lisbon Treaty first time round would not necessarily give it support a second time. Immediately after the first referendum Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, who campaigned for a Yes vote, declared that he accepted the decision of the people. As Irish people will be voting on the same text as the one that was rejected, it is very unlikely that the Labour Party will campaign for a yes vote in any second referendum. The People’s Movement has also produced a convenant to respect the Irish people’s decision in the first referendum and many local politicians and councils have signed up. “We are organising a programme of activity across Ireland and we will continue until Lisbon is buried,” Frank said. RMT general secretary Bob Crow and president John Leach thanked the PM for their work, offered the continuing support of the union and presented a donation. Visit www.people.ie for more information With the economic downturn in full flow, we are wrongly being told that we will have to tighten their belts and expect less. Visiting RMT members at work recently some thought that pay offers this year may be low and in some cases might not be available at all. I told them that this should not be the case and employers had a moral as well as a practical duty to give every employee a decent pay rise. As a union, RMT fights to get members pay rises – it is one of the most important things we do – and we reject that any worker should have to pay for the greed of the financiers and capitalists. Similarly, it was appalling to see workers at Woolworth’s going through Christmas with the sack hanging over them, whilst billions were given to the banks. RMT members EWS – now called Deutsche Bahn Schenker – also face compulsory redundancies despite being employed by the German State railway. EWS, the largest freight operator in the UK, is being basically run into the ground. This is a crime. The obvious benefits to the environment of carrying goods on rail rather than road and the need for our members to have jobs is self- evident. Members on South Eastern Trains, South West Trains, National Express East Anglia and EWS and many other firms have been told that there will be redundancies and a pay freeze. Your union will resist every single cut and attack on its members in any way it can. Ultimately, that is why people join a union, to forge the strength to resist. The bosses are using this economic crisis now as an excuse to slash and burn at our hard won conditions of employment. On Network Rail 28 per cent of renewal work has been shelved and this could have a dire impact on safety. On London Underground, LUL/TFL has announced 1000 job cuts and RMT will resist every single one. This is placing stress and on workers and their families. But it does not have to be this way. The media reports these dire economic developments as if it is out of our control, rather like the weather. Yet economic decisions are all man-made and can, therefore, be unmade. The billions spent on banks must be spent defending working people that make up the vast majority of society. In order to achieve this public services and transport must be publicly-owned. The free-market experiment of the last twenty years, known as globalisation, has clearly failed. Unfettered greed has, predictably, led us to this global crisis but there is another way and another world is possible. Market forces have failed to protect the rail, bus and shipping industries and those who work in these industries. Government intervention and nationalisation has effectively already happened in the banking sector so why not in our crisis-ridden public transport sector. This is politics, the politics of day-to-day life in Britain today. Ultimately, we cannot avoid politics – even if we do want to avoid career politicians who seem to be completely out of touch with the real world. We can challenge these elites and create our own agenda through our own strengths and defend the interests of working people. John Leach President’s column THE RECESSION AND RMT DONATION: Frank Keoghan Kevin McCorry, Bob Crow and John Leach