CROSSWORD

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2011 :: RMTnews 33 The winner of prize crossword no. 66 is P Dicknson Mansfield, Notts. Send entries to Prize Crossword, RMT, Unity House, 39 Chalton Street, London NWI IJD by April 4 with your name and address. Winner and solution in next issue. ACROSS 7, 8 Systems of deferred wages paid after retirement - see9 and 20 (7) 10 They have half the legs that 3s have! (6) 11 Something that causes discomfort or annoyance (8) 12 Something owed (4) 13 Office consumables (10) 14 Kill to order or for political motive (11) 19 Glasses (10) 22 Summit, or rush hour (4) 23 Story teller in film, play etc (8) 24 Clever collie of the silver screen (6) 25 Originally Gabriel, Rutherford, Banks, Philips and Stewart (7) 26 See 20 DOWN 1 Unit of sound measurement (7) 2 Nasty building material (8) 3 Equine animals (6) 4 Arachnid with a segmented abdomen and a nasty sting in its tail (8) 5 Isaac - 17th century mathematician and physicist (6) 6 Clergyman’s home (7) 9 The sort of 7, 8 that Hutton wants to scrap (5,6) 15 Slaughter house (8) 16 Stitched picture, wall- hanging (8) 17 Clothing (7) 18 ABs (7) 20, 26,7,8 What Hutton wants to replace 9,7,8 with (6) 21 Moisture produced in the mouth (6) £25 PRIZE CROSSWORD No. 68. Set by Elk No. 67 solution... Tony Byrne’s mischievous letter in last month’s RMT News ('Don’t single out Deutsche Bahn', Feb’ issue) tries to misrepresent me as an “anti-German” xenophobe. I have spent a lot of time and energy over many years building links and friendships with trade unionists and campaigners against rail privatisation in Germany. In 2007 I was invited to address an anti-rail privatisation seminar at Saarbrucken University and in 2008 organised an RMT delegation to a Conference against rail privatisation in Cologne. I co-published a bi-lingual pamphlet in German and English outlining the dangers of EU rail ‘liberalisation’ directives - available from Unity House - and have written numerous articles on the danger of rail privatisation for German socialist newspapers, which in 2008 led Hugh Mortimer, the Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Berlin to write to a German newspaper challenging my “assertions about the alleged detrimental effect of privatization on the safety of Britain’s railways.” These are not the activities of a xenophobic anti-German. I have also consistently supported German anti-privatisation campaigns opposing the expansionist ambitions of Deutsche Bahn, which damage the interests of railworkers across Europe. In 2008 I took part in negotiations with DB in Berlin to try to restore recognition rights for RMT reps following DB's acquisition of EWS Rail Ltd. Sadly, as we know DB has maintained EWS' hostile attitude to RMT reps. Tony bases his allegation of racism against me on a headline, which he doesn't like and on false claims that I have not dealt with the activities of French state railways SNCF. Yet I have been in constant contact with French trade unionists over SNCF's acquisition activities (as well as those of Dutch, Spanish and British companies) for many years and have written and translated copiously on EU deregulation of the French rail network. The significance of DB and the German economy as even Tony must be aware, is that it is the most powerful political and economic actor in Europe and is reshaping other economies including our own, in its own interests using the rules of the European single market. In the same issue of RMT News Swedish journalist Ingmar Goransson outlines how EU ‘liberalisation’ and competition rules have devastated Sweden's rail network and its famous ‘social model’. Is Ingmar guilty of being an anti-Swedish Swede? While I can dismiss ill-informed insults, Tony’s letter is very unhelpful to RMT members currently suffering as a result of attacks from DB at Arriva Trains Wales and DB Schenker. DB has even shut down Wrexham and Shropshire Railway as part of its asset-stripping programme. The company is also undermining the democracy of our union by refusing to release RMT member, Paul Walker who has been elected to serve on the union’s Council of Executives. I will continue to defend RMT members under attack and expose the rapacious activities of monopoly finance capital regardless of its origin. Claiming that it is xenophobic to do so is not only a dangerous diversion it actively assists the class enemy. Alex Gordon, RMT president SAYING ‘NO’ TO EU PRIVATISATION IS NOT XENOPHOBIC Right to reply