PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

This month’s election was supposed to be the day Jeremy Corbyn and his crazy ideas were firmly put to bed, with a Tory majority predicted to be anywhere between 50 – 100 seats. But what we woke up to was something quite different. Although the Conservatives were still the largest party in Westminster, they no longer held a majority. The Labour manifesto of hope coupled with the great campaign Corbyn and his team ran, energised thousands if not millions to vote for “The Many Not The Few” and that momentum is still continuing. What happened next you couldn’t make up, the Tories and their right-wing media friends had just run an election campaign that vilified Jeremy for talking to Gerry Adams during the troubles in Northern Ireland. What they failed to mention was that fact that many politicians from different parties talked to both sides in those times as all tried to find a way to deliver peace and, indeed, Jeremy Corbyn was awarded the Gandhi Foundation’s “International Peace” award in 2013 for his consistent efforts over 30 years to uphold the Gandhian values of social justice and non-violence. Hypocrisy was the name of the game as Teresa May climbed into bed with the Democratic Unionist Party which has strong links with Loyalist paramilitary groups, specifically the terrorist group Ulster Resistance. Where is the horror from the media now? It’s not just about the move being hypocritical, it’s much more about it being a breach of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland after so many years of violence. I truly think you need to be a special sort of person to put party self-interest ahead of something like The Good Friday agreement and that’s not to mention giving credibility to a party that is still living in the dark ages with their views against same sex marriage, abortion, including abortion when a women has been raped. They are climate change deniers and their Cash for Ash scandal cost the Northern Irish exchequer around half a billion pounds, so just the type of people we all want in power! Now is the time to mobilise and the day after our AGM in Exeter, Saturday July 1 there will be a national demonstration organised by The People's Assembly. NOT ONE DAY MORE #TORIESOUT NO MORE AUSTERITY. Assemble 12pm BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA I do hope we get a great turnout from RMT with banners and flags flying high. Watching the horror unravel at Grenfell Tower this month was very distressing for everyone and so many questions will need to be answered. I keep hearing how we need to keep politics out of this disaster which is a very good idea, especially if you are one of the politician that had every opportunity to make our Tower blocks safer, but voted down the amendment to do so, as in their view it would mean over- regulation [ie cost]. In 2009 there had been another tragedy with a Tower block fire, Larkanal House in Camberwell where six people died. The recommendations from that investigation have still not been implemented. A sprinkler system for a tower block like Grenfell would cost under three hundred thousand pounds, the cladding to make the building look more gentrified cost three million pounds, the word priories comes to mind. “Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep” [Ray Davies] In Solidarity Sean Hoyle President’s column RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2017 :: RMTnews 23 detention centres, they are attacked by other people. This is made all the worse by the length of time they are held is completely arbitrary,” he said. Mr Penny also pointed out that asylum seekers have to survive on a paltry 36 pounds a week. “We want an end to this inhumane system in the UK. It has to stop,” he said. The motion called on the union to “call on the British government to uphold international law and respect and protect LGBT people seeking asylum and protection in the UK and end the use of indefinite immigration detention and halt the deportation of LGBT asylum seekers back to countries where it is known they will face persecution and even death”. Both motions were put forward to the RMT AGM to be debated later this year to see if members want to make them national policy of the union. Other issues discussed included whether to change the name of the committee to LGBT+ and suicide prevention training. Assistant general secretary Steve Hedley addressed the conference stressing the importance of LGBT members within the union. “Any call for equality be it LGBT, race or sex, any demand for equality is a challenge to the system. The people who run this class system love nothing more than divide us along these lines. “We from the working class - we have to recognise that there are different oppressions and some like LGBT people are more oppressed than others,” he said. Turning to the international scene, Mr Hedley said: “There are some countries where you can't even express your sexuality. Whether it be a Christian country like Uganda or from Islamic State, they escape and come here and are put into camps. They should be welcomed here, not locked up. “The trade union movement has to be more vocal about this,” he said. WEAK AND WOBBLY