CELEBRATING 140 FIGHTING YEARS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2014 :: RMTnews 22 To celebrate the 140th anniversary of the founding of our branch it was the unanimous view to commission a new banner and hold a special event to mark the occasion last month. The meeting was attended by RMT president Peter Pinkney, general secretary Bob Crow, assistant general secretary Mick Cash and national secretary Steve Todd. With over 60 in attendance it was a great success with the new branch banner unveiled for the first time. Special thanks must go to the banner maker Ed Hall for making a lovely job of it and the branch has produced special postcards carrying the new design. Many people may associate the year 1874 with the birth of Winston Churchill, Benjamin Disraeli replacing William Gladstone as Prime Minister or even the formation of Aston Villa Football Club. But for the rail workers of Llantrisant it will proudly be remembered for the formation of the Llantrisant branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. The reason we know so much about the early years of the branch is owing to the fact that the original minute book from 1874 still exists and is a fantastic insight into the formation years of the union. The minute book is now stored at the Glamorgan Archives in Cardiff, along with a number of other historical documents of the union, but it was released to be present on the evening. Llantrisant itself is an historic market town dating back to the 6th century and although the railway adopted its name the line itself is actually situated in the nearby village of Pontyclun. The village literally would not have existed had the railway not come to South Wales in the 1850s with the opening of the Chepstow to Swansea Railway and with Llantrisant becoming a major junction to allow the transport of ‘black gold’ from the Rhondda Valleys. Exploitation and poor working conditions were all too prevalent in those early years and the workers of the age knew only too well that the only means by which to improve their pay and conditions was to organise in a fighting trade union. The inaugural meeting of the CELEBRATING 140 FIGHTING YEARS Bridgend and Llantrisant branch secretary Steve Skelly reports on a special meeting to unveil a new banner and celebrate 140 years of representing working people on the railways