RECRUITING IN SHIPPING

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2013 :: RMTnews 7 Lee Davison is an RMT shipping member at Dover that has a particular talent for overcoming a hostile media and a deliberate lack of information in schools about the role of unions and is recruiting his workmates and beyond into the union. In the last 12 months Lee has signed up over 60 new members. When EC member Darren Procter met up with him recently on one of his recruiting days he asked him why he thought he was successful. “I have not done this single- handed because on board my vessel the Spirit of France and across the Dover fleet we have got a good group of members who have helped me in the last year with promoting our union and who tell their friends and co-workers what RMT is and what it does, and how it is in their benefit to join,” he said. Darren said that Lee is able to engage and empathise with people very quickly. “I find if you can talk to young crew members on their level and put things into a perspective they understand then you have a good chance of recruiting them. “I feel that we as a union need to utilise our young members to push our 2013 recruitment drive. “I remember when I first went to sea and one of the older hands said I should join the union I thought: “why should I listen to this old guy?”, But he was right!,” he said Darren notes that Lee really seems interested in the opinions of workers and listens to what they have to say and he wants to know what concerns they may have. “When members have signed up I feel that I need to treat all of the issues the same and address them equally no matter how small, as that small thing might be a great burden to them,” he said. Lee tells potential and existing members about what the union can do for them and how members can work together to protect jobs and conditions. Lee was recently elected Dover Shipping branch`s recruitment and retention officer to assist the branch secretary and the other reps with the main responsibility of the branch which is organising and recruitment. Another great incentive to signing up for low paid workers is the increase from £15,000 to £18,000 maximum earning and this has brought many new members who thought that they could not afford to join in the past. “It would be great if every member went out and recruited one new member,” said Lee. S trike action by signallers working at West Hampstead has been suspended after Network Rail agreed to review their proposals for Shift Signaller Manager (SSM) job cuts at West Hampstead PSB. The review is expected to take note of the union’s argument regarding one of the recommendations of the Cullen Report following the 1999 Ladbroke Grove disaster that, “a supervisor should be employed on a continual basis to ensure that the workstations are operated in the most effective way”. Member voted 100 per cent in favour of taking industrial action in December and took rock solid strike action just before Christmas. RMT general secretary Bob Crow paid tribute to the solidarity and determination of members in this dispute. “Our members took action on the principle of safety and in order to prevent tragedies like the one that occurred at Ladbroke Grove,” he said. SIGNALLER ACTION SUSPENDED AT WEST HAMPSTEAD RMT shipping member Lee Davison wins prize for recruiting 60 members into the union RECRUITING IN SHIPPING EC member Malcom Dunning with Lee Davidson