WHAT DID THE UNION DO FOR ITS MEMBERS IN 1901?

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2019 :: RMTnews 22 M ike Esbester is asking for your help to unlock the details of what happened to over 2,000 railway trade unionists between 1901 and 1905 We all know what RMT does for its members today – often the same things it has been doing since it was originally formed in the 1860s. Looking after worker rights and trying to secure a safer workplace is at the heart of this – and now you’ve got a chance to help show this to a wider audience who might not be so aware of it. This is part of the ‘Railway Work, Life & Death’ project, which is looking at accidents to railway staff in the later 19th century up to the Second World War. We’re trying to find out more about working conditions and attitudes towards safety – and about the individuals who had accidents. Many of those men, and later women, were union members – and what happened to around 2,000 of them is recorded in a book compiled between 1901 and 1905 (see picture). The snag? Until now, if you wanted to find out more, you’d have to go to see it in person, in the Midlands. The handwritten book is part of RMT’s rich archive, preserved for posterity at the Modern Records Centre (MRC) at the University of Warwick. However, the MRC has digitised the volume, and now we’re trying to make it possible for everyone to find out more – and we want your help! On February 5 the project is looking for your help to transcribe details found in the book, which includes details of union representation at accident enquiries and legal cases affecting railway workers. It’s all part of the ‘Transcription Tuesday’ event, hosted by ‘Who Do You Think You Are? magazine’. Over the course of the day, and with your assistance, we’re hoping we can get all 2,150 or so cases detailed in an online database. In ‘Transcription Tuesday’, anyone (not necessarily historians) and everyone is encouraged to help out on a single day with projects involving some element of transcription – so, converting the handwriting from images of original documents into typed text in a database. It means that anyone, anywhere in the world could find out what RMT’s predecessor did to help its members and to improve the railways. That includes, for example, the case of J Hallams, a PW ganger who was hit by a train and killed on January 7 1901 at DANGEROUS: 1914 advice about the dangers of riding on brake sticks. WHAT DID THE UNION DO FOR ITS MEMBERS IN 1901?