PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2016 :: RMTnews I am honoured to be the new chair of the RMT Parliamentary Group. RMT has a proud record as a fighting and democratic union that gets results for its members and it is well respected because of that. It is also great to be taking over in such circumstances. As readers will know, the new Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and the Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell are long standing members of the RMT Parliamentary Group. Although parliamentary rules mean that Jeremy and John can still be group members John can no longer be chair of the group. But of course we now have a Labour leadership and Labour Party whose polices are in line with the unions key objectives, public ownership of the railways and tube, repealing anti-union laws and support for seafarers jobs. And from my perspective, it’s fantastic to see hundreds of thousands of new members, including tens of thousands of trade unionists, join or even re- join the Labour Party, meaning that we can now create a genuine mass socialist anti - austerity party that gives people hope. But the union still needs its own parliamentary group to support that progress and provide specialist campaigning in the interests of transport and offshore workers. And I have had a busy first few months as Chair including meeting the Secretary of State for Transport to lobby against the breakup of Network Rail; meeting the Business Minister to continue to argue against the exploitation of seafarers and working with the shadow offshore minister over the unions concerns on safety and jobs. It was also very enjoyable and productive assisting with latest RMT political school And as my first report to your National Executive made clear, the RMT Parliamentary group is continuing to roll up its sleeves and fight on a number of fronts, including opposing the continued threat of Driver Only Operation and station de-staffing and casualization. We are also getting ready to closely scrutinise the buses bill to ensure not only that passengers get a better deal but the interests of bus workers are protected. Of course the biggest threat to trade union members throughout the country is the Government’s Trade union Bill which is now going through the Lords. As a member of the Bill committee in the House of Commons I fought tooth and nail against it, and RMT members should make no mistake that the Bill is deliberately designed to neuter the Trade Union Movement both industrially and politically. Industrially by setting ever higher thresholds for action and handing even more powers to the bosses to go to the courts to stop action - even when members have voted for it. Politically they are attacking the unions’ very ability to fund the Labour Party, so clearing the way for Big Business Bucks to completely take over political world in favour of the bosses at the expense of working people. I am delighted that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn is unequivocally committed to repealing the Bill if elected but we also know that whatever the Tories throw at us our history tells us they will not succeed. But even without the Trade Union Bill we also need to take a serious look at the whole legislative framework for unions which should have been put right by previous Labour Governments. The RMT and the wider movement have been here before, we have fought back, survived and made advances I am confident that is what we will continue to do, taking up the fight and winning - industrially and politically. Ian Mearns is the Labour MP for Gateshead and Chair of RMT Parliamentary Group TAKING UP THE FIGHT 9 accidents has risen by 75.2 per cent. TfL said: “Incidents of our customers being injured getting on and off Tube trains are rare, with less than one in every four million journeys last year. “The safety and welfare of all our customers and staff is always our top priority, and the Office of Rail and Road Regulation’s Health and Safety statistics indicate that the Tube is the safest big railway in Europe. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the shocking figures can be put down to the poisonous cocktail of station staffing cuts and severe overcrowding which is wrecking the safety culture on London Underground. “RMT has warned that passenger safety is being compromised but the Mayor and his officials have ignored us. “These figures should be the wakeup call that forces those running the tube to halt their cuts programme,” he said. Opposite are the figures for incidents on the Tube.