PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: may R etired RMT activist Tom Angus spoke at a Workers Memorial Day event on April 28 in Manchester, the first year that it has been formally recognised by the government. It was the first time that Tom had attended a WMD event and says it opened his eyes. “There were many people there who had lost loved ones in accidents at work. “There were wives holding pictures up of their husbands; parents holding up pictures of their sons and daughters who had been killed in accidents at work. “I just thought of the families who had lost loved ones at Tebay and other railway tragedies,” he said. Tom had been asked to speak on the terrible events at Tebay in 2004. Tom was among the 13 men that had gone to Tebay to do some maintenance work, and an RRV loaded with 16 tons of rail came into their worksite and killed four men and injured five more. “Since the accident in 2004 we still have no Secondary Protection and there have been 33 runaway incidents on the railway since then and they could all have been as bad as Tebay. “As a union, RMT have been fighting for Secondary Protection with Network Rail it’s only now in 2010, six years after the accident at Tebay that we are finally getting somewhere. “The pressure RMT has put on Network Rail for the last six years has been for the families who lost loved ones, but also for the staff working on the track now,” he said. Tom pointed out that health and safety reps have the power, with the help of their union and health and safety procedures to stop unsafe practices and resist the pressures put on workers by the companies to work in an unsafe way. “Workers Memorial Day is now recognised by the government, yet companies won’t let health and safety reps attend the event each year on the 28 April with paid leave. “We have to ask ourselves is health and safety really at the forefront of the employers’ agenda? See you at the next year’s WMD - 28 March 28 2011,” he said. MARKING WORKERS’ MEMORIAL DAY Parliamentary column Despite the pious claims to be launching an era of 'new politics', for the titular bauble of Deputy Prime Minister, a few seats in government for his reduced number of MPs, Nick Clegg has obediently served the country up to a coalition of cutters. Already a target of a further £6 billion worth of cuts in public services has been agreed with the Tories and more will inevitably follow as these neo liberals pander to the market's demands to restore the casino economy. In effect the markets and the speculators are now dictating the terms on which our economy is run. The role of the RMT Parliamentary Group to May 2015 (if the cutters' coalition holds together for five years which is by no means certain) will be crucial in achieving a dialogue between your union and a new government even more hostile to trade unionists than its predecessor. It is critical that RMT has a voice in parliament and we stand ready to perform that vital democratic role. Whilst the Election saw us lose some key members of the Group, particularly Gwyn Prosser in Dover, David Drew in Stroud and Bob Wareing in Liverpool West Derby, other key members, such as Katy Clark, Jeremy Corbyn, Ian Davidson, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins and Linda Riordan, were returned. We retain the core of an effective Group of hard working MPs well versed in the relevant industrial issues. We will also be working with RMT to identify those new MPs who we can work with to increase the group's membership, bolstering what is the first line of defence against the spending cuts and pro-private industrial policies we expect from this genetically modified administration. So far we do not know which Ministers will get the rail, maritime and other responsibilities within the Department for Transport. But the new Secretary of State, Philip Hammond served notice for trade unionists within hours of being appointed by siding against Unite in their dispute with British Airways. Mr Hammond will be joined by other Tory Ministers Theresa Villiers and Mike Penning, and Norman Baker MP is the Liberal Democrat in the DfT. Nationally, despite the many and varied abuses of power committed by New Labour, not least the failure to restore trade union rights, what was remarkable in the general election campaign was that when it came down to it, basic class solidarity kicked in and many people did turn out to vote Labour to keep the Tories out. It is noticeable that they voted in significantly larger numbers for known Labour Left candidates because they had no doubt that they were on their side. If the vote for the Labour Left had been replicated across the country there would be a Labour government in power today. Of course, the Labour Party and the media are fixated on the election of a new party leader. Already some trade union leaderships have yet again hijacked their own unions into supporting the campaigns of particular candidates. All of the candidates named by the media so far are central New Labour figures who actively supported the New Labour policies which have left us with a Tory government. However be warned, just as three years ago it is highly unlikely that the members of the Parliamentary Labour Party will permit a genuine Left candidate onto the ballot paper. It is crucial that trade unionists and other socialist campaigners increase activity in the civil opposition to the new government's attempts to make us pay for the bankers' excesses. A start was made in the campaign of resistance last weekend when the Labour Representation Committee made the first tentative step in bringing together the coalition of the people necessary to resist the coalition of the cutters. This has given us great heart for the level of public support we can garner in the years ahead. And in Parliament, the RMT Parliamentary group will remain an effective presence in parliament and stands ready to test the credibility of the 'new politics' Clegg and Cameron are attempting to usher in. John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington AFTER THE GENERAL ELECTION