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Over the last two years there have been many organisations and individuals supporting our campaign for a safe and accessible railway. I want to pay special tribute to someone who from day one has been on our picket lines in all weathers, showing her absolute solidarity with RMT. Paula Peters from Disabled People Against Cuts [DPAC] is an inspiration to so many that strive for a fairer more equal society. Recently Paula posted a message on social media that I would like to share with you. “The last few days have been tough emotionally and physically. Standing outside Downing Street with the People’s Assembly and the huge pile of food donations reminded me of all the times had been in the same spot over the years. Remembering people I had previously campaigned with, people who are no longer with us, people who simply cannot take another day. “I was so shattered last night with two protests on the same day, and yet, struggle to sleep. “I do not know how I got through today, I went to London for the housing protest and came home and was in bed the rest of the day. “I live with chronic pain, chronic fatigue, RA, fibro, severe and enduring mental health hypermobility and Pots along with asthma. I am struggling with the dark nights, with the cold and the damp, but, the battle has to be fought, and there are countless thousands of people who are doing just that, fighting every day. For many, it takes guts and courage and determination to just fight another day and simply get through it. Opening your eyes is a battle in itself. I know it because I live it too. That a great many of us have got through to now after seven years of brutal Tory austerity says so much. We have fought so hard, we have lost so much, it has tested us beyond any words and it has changed us all. But, what it has given me is knowledge I would not have received anywhere else, bonds with people I know will last a lifetime, friendships forged on the street and we have shared love, laughter, tears and anger, but we shared a belief, and that belief is there to this day. That the fight for equality, inclusion, social justice and human rights is one worth fighting for. “All I say to you now, is this, please take care of you. Remember you matter. You are important. You may not believe it, but you all keep me going another day by the strength you show and the determination of your fight. I thank you for that. You help me keep focus, and give me courage when I could have so easily given up.” So I say to you all, when the struggle feels like it’s just too difficult to make a difference, think of all the Paula’s out there and go again. As I am writing this, Philip Hammond is announcing his latest Budget and, as ever, it appears to be a budget for the few and not the many, with no extra money for schools, £I.6 billion for the NHS instead of the £4 billion that is needed and Social Care treated with complete contempt. Interesting that we see business rates cut in real terms and our corporation tax that started at 40 per cent in 1965 is now 19 per cent and will move to 18 per cent by 2020. I think we know which side this government is on. “Life Doesn’t Require That We Be The Best, Only That We Try Our Best”. H.Jackson Brown Jr Solidarity Sean Hoyle President’s column UNSUNG HEROES RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2017 :: RMTnews 23 separation of rail infrastructure and operations and facilitate competitive tendering for contracts open to all in the single market. We could establish a unified railway run on a not-for-profit basis. This doesn’t have to be a resurrected British Rail circa 1994. There is an opportunity to run a better railway that engages with its workers and passengers with union and community transport groups represented on the board. A community group at my local station, Freccles (friends of Eccles station) organise monthly gardening sessions to maintain beautiful flower beds. They have produced notices of historical interest around the station, lobby the authorities for increased stopping services, produce a newsletter with service updates and suggestions of days out. This passionate sense of community could be harnessed to transform a post-Brexit Britain where our railways are ran with a sense of civic and collective pride. And a state-run railway could end contracting out and reliance on foreign companies to create decent employment for our communities. There are many highly skilled well-paid jobs on the railway, but the workforce is an aging one. National schools could be established to take on apprentices to teach our children key skills in rail manufacturing, engineering and operations. The great loco works of Crewe and Doncaster that once employed tens of thousands and built trains to run across the globe are now shadows of their former selves where trains are now maintained rather than constructed. York and Darlington works are now museums. With many of our trains now built abroad, trains are now built only in Derby and Newton Aycliffe, County Durham by a total workforce of only around two thousand people. This sector could receive a massive boost from a new peoples’ railway. Post-industrial areas of high unemployment could see a return of manufacturing jobs. Brexit is an opportunity to get our railways back. Let’s take it.