PRESIDENTS COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2017 :: RMTnews 21 President’s column “The world is getting darker” declared Ken Loach as he received the best British Film award at the Baftas, for I, Daniel Blake. The most vulnerable and poorest people are treated by this government with contempt and a callous brutality that is disgraceful, extending to keeping out refugee children we promised to help. He went on to say that the leaders need to be removed…but who would replace them? I strongly believe that at the moment, Jeremy Corbyn is still the best hope we have if we want a fairer society for all. Unfortunately Jeremy is still attempting the impossible, as he cannot keep his socialist principles and the Labour Party intact at the same time. The vast majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the councillors who back them are not socialists and in my view shouldn’t be left unchallenged by socialists, including at the ballot box. I think should say a something about the disgraceful goings on during our dispute with Southern GTR. We have been in dispute for over a year and have always been prepared to talk to try and resolve the issues. So when the company decided that they would only meet ASLEF in meetings co- chaired by TUC general secretary Francis O’Grady I was less than happy. The rest is history and I feel that we now have a situation where the TUC and ASLEF have been complicit in all that has happened. The TUC started talks which RMT was barred from and they are supposed to be a body that speaks for all unions and certainly shouldn’t be entering into talks that will directly affect the members of a union that had been excluded. We are a component part of the TUC and our general secretary sits as a member of its general council and yet the first we heard about the talks was in the media, that is a complete disgrace. We continue to remind all that this is still about safety, the safety of the guard, passengers and the driver and has been from day one. When the guard isn’t there anymore there will only be the driver. Although Southern had previously said that there will be someone else on the train, they won’t be safety-critical and looking at the proposals supported by the ASLEF leadership, there would be many occasions when they won’t be there at all so the driver will be wholly culpable when things go wrong. Here is a statement from a guard: "As your guard I will sell you your tickets, I will give you the time of your last train home, I will help you plan your journey and find your connections. I will assist you on and off the train, especially if you're disabled or elderly so you don't need to plan your journeys 24 hrs in advance and hope assistance turns up. If you're a parent I will help you with your pushchair or pram. I will do my best to give you information when your journey is disrupted. I can help reunite you with your lost property, I can get help for you if you're ill, I can keep an eye out for your children, grandparents, grandchildren or even just for you on those days where you need a little help. I can help to make sure your night on the tiles ends safely. I can help the driver if they're ill or injured, I can contact our control and the signallers to report things which could be dangerous, and help to keep your trains moving. I can help organise your road transport if it all goes wrong. I can protect you should the very worst happen in an accident. Even if you don't see me, I am there and I am available if you need me, watching and helping to get you where you need to be - safely. If I become your On Board Supervisor I can sell tickets, I can issue fines if you haven't bought before boarding. If I'm there I might be able to help the disabled and elderly. But I might not be there. Without safety training the train can run without me, and if it does I can't do anything to help you. As soon as the train starts to move there will be no one there, no one watching, no one keeping an eye out to make sure it's still safe. That is why we believe our role as a guard is so important, please support your guards and join us in saying No More DOO." ‘Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late’ -Ben Franklin THE WORLD IS GETTING DARKER