PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

9 Parliamentary column RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2014 :: RMTnews It was a pleasure to give the RMT Parliamentary group report to your executive recently because we could discuss progress and victories on a number of fronts. Our campaigning with your union has helped ensure the government dropped proposals that would have seen the scrapping of legislation protecting workers’ pensions at the time of rail and Tube privatisation. This may also have the benefit of protecting all pensions in the industry as rail and Tube employers may be reluctant to try and operate too many different schemes. The union and the Parliamentary group are meeting the pension minister shortly to hold further discussions Another tremendous victory was the government decision to award the Crossrail rolling stock contract to Bombardier based in Derby so securing, for now at least, rail jobs and the future of British train manufacturing. RMT group member and Derby MP Chris Williamson had been particularly active in the campaign for the union tabling a series of questions and motions. On the Tube members of the group backed the RMT’s campaign against the closure of ticket offices across the network this included questions, motions and a rally and debate at Parliament. All of this demonstrated the strong political support for the Tube workers’ magnificent fight back and put pressure on London Underground. I and a number of MPs outside London emphasised that what happened on London Underground was vital because we are battling to save rail ticket offices around the country. On public ownership I was able to report to your executive that 60 MPs have now signed my motion criticising the current structure of the railways, staff cuts and fare rises and calling for public ownership. This represents strong parliamentary support and the RMT Parliamentary group will be following this up to make the case for public ownership being in Labour’s manifesto. My colleague Grahame Morris MP has also used Parliament to secure a meeting with the rail minister over the future of East Coast. In the bus industry, RMT Group member Chris Williamson MP has forced the government to admit that as a result of government cuts, there has been a 17 per cent reduction in the number of supported bus services. I am sure this will inform campaigning in the forthcoming local elections. In the maritime sector progress has also been made. Following a meeting convened by the group with the Chamber of Shipping, the government is now looking seriously at a link between the Tonnage Tax and the additional employment of ratings. This work has been reinforced by a special parliamentary debate secured by group member Katy Clark MP, while fellow group member Karl Turner MP used parliamentary questions to get the government minister Vince Cable to agree to investigate abuses of the minimum wage on UK ships and the RMT Parliamentary group is also due to meet the minister on this issue. And in the offshore sector group member Ian Davidson MP - who also chairs the Scottish Affairs Select Committee - has ensured his committee has started an effective inquiry into zero-hours contracts. The union is due to give evidence on zero hours in the offshore industry when the committee holds its next hearing in Dundee, which followed the union giving evidence to the parliamentary transport committee on helicopter safety. This is just a snapshot of the work of the your Parliamentary group and I am looking forward to addressing the RMT Wessex Region anti - McNulty cuts rally on March 26 and hope to see some of you there. Finally as a former miner and NUM president, I would like to place on record my appreciation your union’s support for my campaign for a public inquiry into government involvement in the miners’ strike 30 years ago which saw the persecution and framing of mineworkers and their supporters. There was solidarity then between our unions and there is solidarity now. Ian Lavery is the Labour MP for Wansbeck. He is a member of the RMT Parliamentary Group and chair of the Trade Union Group of Labour MPs. IF WE FIGHT WE WIN R MT has stepped up demands for urgent government action to end the shocking practice of train companies dumping human sewage on the railway tracks. A new BBC investigation has once more exposed the fact that the issue continues to kick up a stench across rail services out of London main line stations. Last year transport minister Baroness Kramer was forced to admit in the House of Lords that the practice was ‘utterly disgusting’ although her government refuses to do anything about it. RMT has demanded that the government disclose what tonnage of human excrement is currently being dumped on Britain’s railways by the train companies every year to reveal the true scale of the scandal. Track workers have repeatedly pointed out that some sections of the rail infrastructure are like an open sewer and that the human waste doesn’t simply hit the track bed, it sprays out when trains are travelling at speed posing a serious and disgusting health risk to staff. Rail works have been delayed because staff have been confronted with pools of raw sewage. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that it was a shocking indictment on the state of the railways 20 years after privatisation, with hundreds of millions of pounds a year being creamed off in private profits, that raw sewage is still being dumped and sprayed across the tracks. "This rotten practice should be stopped once and for all and the train companies should be the forced by the government to pay the price for upgrading the trains and employing staff to empty the tanks,” he said. STOP THE SEWAGE