THE BATTLE FOR WATERLOO

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: january 2010 :: RMTnews 12 Waterloo branch launched a very important organising campaign recently with over thirty members turning out to help recruit the multitude of different locations and grades at the station. Taxis, catering, traincrew and revenue protection workers were all covered on a day that saw twenty new members join and many more workers promising to fill in their forms within the next few days. There are a large number of young workers at Waterloo so young activists travelled from across the country including from Newcastle, Plymouth and Liverpool to help out their colleagues at Waterloo. Newcastle guard Richie Veich said that he was glad to make the effort because persuading non-members to join our union is really important. “I’ve helped with organising campaigns in a few places now including Newcastle, Edinburgh and even up in Aberdeen out at the heliports speaking to offshore workers. “It doesn't really matter the job someone does, what matters is that they should be organised by RMT,” Richie said. All grades and all companies were targeted and this will be repeated for three days every single month. Waterloo branch is working alongside the RMT’s organising unit to devise a long term campaign that the branch could sustain. Myself and branch secretary Ricky Goodman spent a few hours going through the branch list to compare membership levels against the staff compliment. “This showed us the areas where non-membership exists and the extent of potential new members. “We then came up with a plan to ensure the branch tackled ‘nons’ and helped retain existing members. “We needed regular activity and to establish elected representatives in every workplace,” said Ricky. Ricky was delighted with the launch and there was a need to ensure that regular activity took place every month. “We will fail if this is simply a one-off and I’d like to thank all the activists, executive members and Bob Crow for turning out and helping us. “We are all really positive about the future and we are determined to get organised,” he said. LOCAL REPS All local reps were written to and reminded that it was their responsibility to recruit and organise. Ricky explained that occasionally he’ll come across a rep that simply doesn’t realise that recruitment is a vital part of the job. “There is nobody better to recruit workmates than the rep who is negotiating on their behalf,” he said. Branch activists were also contacted and the response was impressive. Over thirty RMT activists got involved even getting out the RMT message to hundreds of taxi drivers who were given as our London Taxi branch grows. Every branch in the country should have a ‘recruitment plan’. It’s your responsibility to get around the workplace, speak to members and recruit non- members into our union. THE BATTLE FOR WATERLOO Alan Pottage reports on an organising initiative at Waterloo station in London which saw twenty new members join in a day