A STRIKING UNION-THE CASE OF RMT

A crucial ingredient of the RMT’s organising approach has been the explicit rejection of social partnership in favour of union militancy and strike mobilisation as the path to the defence of workers’ conditions and the reinvigoration of union organisation. Indeed, in many respects RMT’s ‘brand image’ is essentially that of being a striking union. For example, on London Underground and the national railway network between January 2002 and December 2009 the union balloted in favour of industrial action on at least 141 different occasions, with such ballots leading to strikes (mainly 24 or 48-hour) on 59 different occasions, and involving no less than 172 strike days overall. Per thousand members, the RMT has probably organised more ballots for industrial action and more strike action than any other union over recent years. Strikes in early 2010 by signallers in South Wales, ex- Metronet signal workers on the tube, and ScotRail train drivers and guards, as well as the threatened strike by Network Rail maintenance and operations staff, are merely the latest manifestation of the willingness of RMT members to wear the ‘militant’ union badge proudly. Significantly, almost every single one of the union’s ballots on the Underground and the railways during the period 2002-09 returned overwhelming majorities in favour of action, with a mean of 83 per cent. The proportion of union members participating in such ballots was also creditable with a mean of 39 per cent on the Underground and 66 per cent on the railways. Case study research provides evidence that in many cases there has been a direct relationship (or ‘virtuous circle’) between the RMT’s ‘striking’ approach, its effectiveness in obtaining bargaining gains, membership growth and union revitalisation. Thus building support for ballots for industrial action and the very process of strike mobilisation itself has helped the union to regularly update information about existing members (so employers are less able to challenge the validity of ballot results) and to identify non-members who can be approached to join. It has provided an important focus for reps to engage in an active direct dialogue/campaign with members/non-members to encourage them to vote in favour of strike action and to become involved if action takes place. Moreover the threat/use of A STRIKING UNION THE CASE OF RMT Professor Ralph Darlington provides an evaluation of RMT’s repeated threat and use of strike action in recent years RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: march 2010 :: RMTnews 22