ENGINEERING SAFETY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2016 :: RMTnews 16 RMT member Garry Hassell welcomed delegates to the Brighton on behalf of the Brighton and Hove district trades council. “This a strong trade union city and RMT and its predecessor, the NUR, have played an important part in ensuring that the trades council flourished and that good jobs were secured,” he said. RMT president Sean Hoyle told conference that a recent trip to Tebay on the 12th anniversary of the tragedy when four railway workers were killed by a runaway wagon on the West Coast Main Line was one of the most humbling of his life. Whilst welcoming the fact that RMT had recently helped force through the introduction of a new secondary protection system to give workers ‘one last chance’ to escape from runaways, Sean reminded delegates that it had come at a heavy price “when four workers leave to work and don’t come home”. John Joe Carruthers, Carlisle City thanked conference for its longstanding support for the Tebay campaign and for the magnificent support from Lancaster City branch. Steve Metcalfe, Lancaster City said that with one or two notable exceptions local politicians had been useless on Tebay. He praised the families and the union for their campaigning work on the issue. RMT assistant general secretary Mick Lynch said that the union faced many challenges ahead. “The safety of our members on the track is the most important thing we do. “There should be consensus in the industry on how that safety happens. “Safe Work Leader was imposed on us and is not suitable for the industry and it has been a huge waste of money on training and IT, it is a national scandal. “In the East Midlands we were successful in getting the programme paused and it is also not being rolled out in the rest of the country. This because of the fantastic job that was done by our members in the East Midlands,” he said. Outlining how RMT membership had increased over the last year, Mick took the opportunity to explain how important it was for the union to know how many members there were in each workplace. “Mapping is essential so that we know who is in the union and where they are. When it comes to disputes the matrix will be in a good position as the work will be done,” he said. Alan Jary, Norwich spoke on a unanimously-backed resolution on safety that condemned the fact that two person teams were often put on jobs when there was agreement that they should have three person teams. “Rosters are done for three person teams but if someone is sick or on secondment then they don’t budget for an extra person and we end up with two person teams,” he said. Neil Sanders, Birmingham ENGINEERING Engineering grades conference discuss trackside safety and Tory attacks on the industry in the name of austerity