PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

RMT’s health and safety conference last month remembered workers killed or injured at work, in particular our members Colin Buckley, Darren Burgess, Chris Waters and Gary Tindall who lost their lives in the Tebay rail disaster on February 15 2004. By coincidence, on February 15 this year a jury at Winchester Crown Court was the first to use corporate killing legislation to find an employer, Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings guilty of safety breaches leading to the death of a worker. If you’ve never heard of this company, don’t be surprised. Safety campaigners predicted when the last Labour government introduced corporate killing legislation that it was too weak to be effective and would be used to prosecute small fry and allow big corporate criminals to go free. Also last month, the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) announced it supports government proposals to extend the qualifying period for reporting of serious injuries or accidents leading to absence from work (RIDDOR) from three days at present, to seven days. Certainly, that is one way to reduce statistics of work injuries. BSIF boss David Lummis said: “Amending RIDDOR will contribute to eliminating the burden of paperwork for small businesses”. The miserable failure of the ‘health and safety industry’ to stand up to corporate interests demonstrates why workers need trade unions. Safety professionals can advance their careers by jumping from one gravy train to another. Regulation of rail safety for both national rail and metro systems, including London Underground was removed from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under the 2005 Transport Act and given to the Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR) – a body with responsibility for commercial regulation. Now the European Union’s European Railway Agency (ERA), which RMT led an international trade union lobby against in Lille last year, is able to oversee rail safety regulation. We saw this when permission was given apparently to Deutsche Bahn to compete against Eurostar in international passenger services through the channel tunnel with Siemens-built trains that do not meet safety standards set by current rolling stock. In the view of the ERA, safety is a barrier to competition and competition must be encouraged regardless. Even the Con Dem proposals to reduce RIDDOR-reporting will not remove the requirement for reporting ‘over three-day injuries’. New requirements will shortly be enforced for all EU countries to provide this data to the EU statistical office Eurostat. The latest government proposals simply make responsibility for injury data compilation the preserve of the EU, more remote, less accountable to elected union safety representatives and more open to abuse and corporate lobbying. On 3 March I attended a European parliamentary hearing organised by the left-wing MEPs in Brussels into the European Commission’s new proposals to extend rail ‘liberalisation’ across the EU. I was privileged to hear testimony from Italian families from the small town of Viareggio, in Tuscany where 32 inhabitants were incinerated on June 29 2009 when a dangerous goods train carrying LPG tanks derailed. The train composed of vehicles of Polish Railways (PKP), Deutsche Bahn (DB), GATX Rail Austria and KVG Kesselwagen, a division of GATX leased to ExxonMobil was able to operate as a result of the EU’s second rail package, which liberalised rail freight from 2006. The testimony of Daniella Riombi and other members of the 'Viareggio 29 June Association' echoes the experiences of families in Britain who lost loved ones because of rail privatisation. They conclude that these disasters are the result of policies pursued by the EU for decades. Yet today, the European Commission’s answer to criticism of its neoliberal policies is to tell us: "there is a positive correlation between liberalisation and safety". That is a lie. The truth is that the European Commission is driven by corporate ideology. According to them, whatever the issue, privatisation must be the answer. They must be defeated in Brussels, Lisbon and London by a movement led by trade unions going beyond the workplace into the streets. Alex Gordon President’s column PRIVATISATION DOES NOT EQUAL SAFETY RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2011 :: RMTnews 23 L ong standing Kings Cross member Bernard Kimmins received his 25 year membership badge from senior assistant general secretary Mick Cash recently. Bernard originally worked on the Kings Cross Dining cars then moved to the Central Despatch Office. When that closed down following BR privatisation he transferred to Thameslink as a booking clerk, and is currently working in the ticket office at Luton Airport Parkway. A fter struggling with computers for a while Chester branch secretary John Whittingham decided to do a bit of IT learning himself. Having been invited to the Open Day at the Learn Direct IT centre run by Chester University, he chatted to several of the tutors who persuaded him to have a go. After a brief introductory test, they agreed that he should take a Level 2 computer skills course. This was on the basis of "drop in when you can" and work from the programme explained on the computer, no lessons or teaching, just get on with it. As the months went by, John persevered and gradually managed to complete the various modules. Finally he received his Certificate from Centre Manager Connie Hancock (Photo) who was pleased with the progress he had made. R oyal Flett Auxiliary veteran Vincent Gray receives his RMT 40 year long service medal from national secretary Steve Todd on board RFA Largs Bay. KINGS CROSS STALWART IT AWARD FOR WHITTINGHAM RFA STALWART