PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

President’s column WORKING TOGETHER A couple of recent events have highlighted how we can work together, with other interested groups, to fight the attacks taking place on workers, the unemployed and the disabled etc. In March I took part in an Action for Rail day along with many others. Early morning I was leafleting at Euston station. I then went down to Brighton to meet up with RMT activists Greg Hewitt and Gary Hassell. They were also going to be leafleting, but first they took me to the University of Sussex to meet students that had been staging a sit in for several weeks against the outsourcing of jobs in the university. The students had received a lot of media coverage and had many offers of support from various groups. As Greg remarked it was, for those old enough to remember, like 1968 all over again. They welcomed us and allowed us to speak and contribute to the discussions they were having. Every one of them was given an opportunity to speak and their enthusiasm was uplifting. It fills me with hope to see that not only trade unions are fighting the cuts, but also students and, I believe, not only can they learn from us but also we have a lot to learn from them. Leafleting at Brighton station later, I was also pleased to see it was well attended by various groups including the Green Party, Trades Council members and the Labour Party. I was particularly pleased to have a conversation with Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton and ex- leader of The Green Party. She has a lot of views that correspond with ours and we need to work together with such like-minded people to further our cause. Also in the last month I have taken part in two seminars regarding the EU and The Fourth Railway Package. This is new legislation to put rail infrastructure and operations out to tender to across Europe ie privatisation. The first meeting I attended was in Berlin. It was a joint meeting between managers and the European Transport Federation to look into how this will be achieved and what happens to staff. EC member Tim Butler was with me and we were appalled that, apart from ourselves and the Swedes, that the unions seem to be sleepwalking into it. What do we and the Swedes have in common? We both have privatised railways! To be fair, the French trade unions were unable to make it because of the weather and I am sure their position would be the same as ours but, in general, the other European union’s seem to think everything will be fine! The next meeting I attended regarding The Fourth Railway Package was in Brussels and organised by the ETF and GUE/NGL ( a left/ green alliance of MEPs) and in attendance were two European Commissioners. I got the chance to speak at the very end and pointed out the dangers of privatisation, including showing the cover of RMT News with the six inch gap of rail missing on the East Coast Mainline. After I had finished one of the commissioners said: “It is good to see our friends from the UK perpetuating the myth of privatisation being bad.” I would like to finish by saying, as I did at The Scottish TUC, it is not us who are perpetuating ‘myths’ about privatisation, it is the unelected European Commissioners in Brussels perpetuating the myth that privatisation is good! Peter Pinkney RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2013 :: RMTnews 23 The Lisbon Treaty and all the other EU treaties are nothing more than a cast iron manifesto for capitalism which rules out any other economic system. They are designed by an alliance of transnational corporations without any hindrance from real democracy. This constitution now has spin offs including the Stability Mechanism and Fiscal Pact to hand everything to private capital so that exploitation can be increased whilst binning employment conditions, collective bargaining, pensions and all social protection and accountability. But Parliaments and governments do not have to carry out policies dictated by Brussels. Instead, they could carry out measures on behalf of those who elect them. The only rational course is to leave the EU so that states can have its own currency and the power to decide all matters on behalf of the peoples of that country including having decent public services. This article first appeared in the Morning Star EUROPE