PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

President’s column UNITY IS STRENGTH RMT delegates are gathering in Fort William for our Annual General Meeting, our annual parliament, where your elected representatives deal democratically and collectively with the challenges we face. Our union’s future lies in our own hands and as RMT president I will endeavour to ensure that all decisions are made in a proper, democratic manner. This year in particular your AGM features critical debates and decisions. Transport workers across Britain face an onslaught of spending cuts and privatisation from a government with no legitimacy. Last month Bob Crow, national secretary Steve Todd and myself visited RMT members in the Hebrides as part of RMT’s campaign to oppose privatisation of Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services. At public meetings, local people made it clear that publicly-owned ferry services are a lifeline and that they will fight against a ferry privatisation no-one wants being ruthlessly pursued under European Union rules that no-one voted for. The Scottish government is letting privateers cherry-pick profitable ferry routes. Last month publicly-owned CalMac re-tendered for the Gourock- Dunoon ferry crossing in the Clyde as a passenger-only service and in great secrecy handed a car ferry monopoly to privately-owned, Western Ferries. In a mirror image of the smash-and-grab raid on Scottish ferries, Sir Roy McNulty’s ‘value for money review’ is demanding more of the same. Sir Roy points out that breaking up our railways has created waste, bureaucracy and conflicting private interests - who knew? - and bizarrely concludes that what is needed is more fragmentation and privatisation. Sir Roy, who’s career includes overseeing privatisation of National Air Traffic control in 2001 under the European Commission’s ‘Single European Sky’ policy, was always going to exonerate big business and blame rail workers for being overpaid. The McNulty review, which recommends breaking up Network Rail, cutting jobs and reducing spending on branch lines, has rightly been compared to the infamous Beeching report that devastated Britain’s rail network 50 years ago. What is clear is that rail privateers foresee another epic era of profit-taking opening up. The way forward, in McNulty’s view, is to export Britain’s disastrous experience of ‘profits before safety’ to the world of rail privatisation envisaged in the latest EU directive for a ‘Single Railway Area’. These plans envisage rail, maritime and road transport being ripped open to market forces in a ‘liberalised’ transport network serving business interests and little else. Trade unions across Europe are to be shackled with EU-wide anti-strike laws in order to prevent workers from protecting themselves and to facilitate private transport monopolies to dismantle our social rail networks. Capitalism is returning to Thatcher’s unfinished business – an all-out assault on working people, their trade unions and the welfare state – using the institutions of the EU. Our response is inscribed on our RMT banners, ‘Unity is Strength’ and last month the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association voted overwhelmingly for merger talks with RMT. You will be kept informed of developments on this crucial issue. Ultimately the response of transport workers to McNulty must be to unite to defeat these attacks and build a better future. Finally, I hope to see you at one of the great summer trade union festivals. Whether the Durham miners’ gala on Saturday July 9 where our general secretary Bob Crow will be speaking, the Tolpuddle martyrs festival on the weekend of July 16 where I will be chairing a meeting on EU attacks on worker’ rights, or the Burston School strike rally on September 4, bring your family and join the labour movement as it celebrates our past and our future. Alex Gordon RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2011 :: RMTnews 25 include local scenes such as apple orchards in Herefordshire, and great events such as Peterloo and Cable Street. Heroes of the Labour Movement are also represented: The Tolpuddle Martyrs, Robert Tressell and Tom Paine. “The banners I have made for RMT have often been through meetings and the exchange of sketches with RMT members. “My best memories are of travelling to see staff in a lonely signal box for instance at Stourbridge, I have learnt so much and knowledge builds on knowledge. “At Preston I learned of the Coronation Scot which is the centrepiece of the Preston RMT banner, I learned of St Walburge's church in Preston and the wonderful music "The Coronation Scot" which I still listen to while making banners,” he says. He is thrilled that The Peoples History Museum to has asked him to exhibit. “It has just completed a most beautiful new building complete with study rooms and a cafe overlooking the River Irwell. “The generosity of those RMT branches who have lent banners is much appreciated, but for them there would be no exhibition,” he said. There is a curator-led tour on Friday July 22 1.15pm- 2pm. People’s History Museum Left Bank Spinningfields Manchester M3 3ER