PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

President’s column TRAIN BUILDING IS A NATIONAL ISSUE I was recently privileged to address Bombardier workers in Derby alongside trade unionists, campaigners and MPs passionately defending Britain’s last train-building centre. RMT member Darren Barber, Vice- Chair of Bombardier’s Shop Stewards’ Committee told the meeting: “We’re here to save the future of train building in Britain, this is a national issue.” Railworkers and their supporters are demanding a government u-turn on the decision to award German train manufacturer, Siemens, a contract to build the new Thameslink train fleet, which has already led to 1,400 job cuts in Derby. Kevin Owen, a welder at Derby C&W works blogs on the fight to save our last train manufacturer at ‘MADE IN BRITAIN’ http://kevinjowen- madeinbritain.blogspot.com/ On March 7, David Cameron said in Derby: "We need a massive rebalancing of our economy, we have got to be more reliant on manufacturing and investment.” Yet three months later his government named Siemens ‘preferred bidder’ for the £1.4billion Thameslink trains contract, a decision that threatens Derby's Litchurch Lane plant in a city proud of building trains since 1839. Derby has faced adversity before. In 1833 mill-owners locked out the town’s silk workers for belonging to a trade union. Donations from across Britain sustained their fight. Only the threat of transportation to Australia after the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ trial in 1834 broke their resolve. Derby labour historian Bill Whitehead called this “the first practical national expression of the syndicalist project to wrestle power from the capitalists and to put it in the hands of the workers, through trade union action”. Today Derby is the site of another struggle. Our government is locking skilled manufacturing jobs in Derby out of the British economy using EU procurement rules. For the Thameslink contract, the Dept for Transport stated in April 2008 "the chosen bidder [will] finance acquisition and ownership of rolling stock”. Privatised rolling stock companies (ROSCOs) have proved to be such an extortion racket that the DfT now awards contracts to global corporations backed by foreign governments to build our trains in their factories abroad. Siemens (a company notorious for anti-union practices and corruption) can’t manufacture specialist, lightweight bogies that Derby builds. But, flush from winning a £6 billionn DB train contract, Siemens beat Bombardier for the Thameslink contract on financial – not engineering – criteria. In July over 10,000 people rallied behind Bombardier workers to hear Bob Crow and other union leaders denounce the decision to sell Britain’s last train-building plant down the river. Derby Council leader Philip Hickson wrote: "Frankly, as Conservative leader of a major city council, I find it difficult to explain why my Prime Minister and government seem to be hiding behind myths about legalities, procurement, future rail contracts and denial of Bombardier UK closing. “This will undoubtedly cost our party very dearly at the next elections," he said. Bombardier is now reviewing its future in Britain. 3,000 jobs in Derby and up to 10,000 jobs in 831 UK supply chain companies are at risk. An industry that transformed the world now hangs by a thread because politicians and elite civil servants despise train manufacturing and worship bankers. Bombardier workers can be sure that RMT, whose predecessors founded the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in Derby in 1870, is fighting for train manufacturing in Britain. Britain needs train building, we invented it and Derby has a great future if the design skills and engineering knowledge of railworkers are nurtured and developed. Right now, we demand that the government perform another u-turn and if it won’t their decision must be challenged by judicial review. Let’s give total support to Bombardier workers to save train building in Derby. Alex Gordon RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2011 :: RMTnews 25 RMT president Alex Gordon told the meeting that the case had never been stronger for public ownership of all transport. "We should be talking about transport in the same way as the welfare state," he said. Other key issues discussed included EU procurement rules and the recent loss of 1,500 train manufacturing jobs at Bombardier Derby. Alex blamed EU directives for the government decision to award the contract to German firm Siemens. Calling for the maximum mobilisation of opposition to the sell-out at a rally on October 25 in Westminster Methodist Hall, he added: "If we don't fight for these jobs now, we'll never get them back in the future". A break in the weather allowed for TSSA and RMT members to come together for an impromptu barbeque and some singing, which bodes well for the future. Thousands joined the Sunday march through the village of Tolpuddle in the welcome sunshine to mark the successful campaign to win freedom for the martyrs. In 1834, after the six were arrested and sentenced to seven years’ transportation for the ‘crime’ of taking an oath of solidarity, a massive protest swept across the country. Thousands of people marched through London and many more organised petitions and protest meetings to demand their freedom. The protest campaign proved successful and they returned home in triumph. The stories of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and Burston strike school are now part of the fight of a free and democratic society which is still being fought. And both struggles show that campaigning solidarity can change things for the better. The Burston strike school rally takes place on the first weekend of September and Tolpuddle is celebrated each year on the weekend of the third Sunday in July. A trip to either is well worth the effort.