PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2020 :: RMTnews 25 While RMT disabled members were meeting online on Friday 2 October, we were also watching the number of signatures rise on the petition in support of Osime Brown. Osime was jailed as a teenager for stealing a mobile phone even though he didn’t. Under ‘joint enterprise’ law, he was convicted just for being there. Osime is autistic and learning- disabled, and has been repeatedly let down by the education, care and justice systems. In a cruel twist, he faces deportation to Jamaica at the end of his prison sentence; a country he left with his family when he was four years old. Osime has no family in Jamaica, and no support system to meet his high needs. By the afternoon of our conference, the number of signatures calling on the Home Office to cancel Osime’s deportation passed one hundred thousand! RMT is supporting his campaign, as are several MPs and campaigning organisations including Neurodivergent Labour. You can add your name here: www.bit.ly/osime- b<http://www.bit.ly/osime-b> The Conference discussed many issues of concern to disabled transport workers, and agreed a charter of demands to place on employers. We want accessible and mentally-healthy workplaces, adjustments when we need them, and to not be punished for disability-related absence from work. We want employers to put their avowed support for the social model of disability into practice, by identifying and removing barriers to disabled workers rather than seeing the worker as the problem. We also resolved to campaign against anti-union laws which hamper our ability to fight for disabled workers’ rights, and to support the use of sunflower lanyards for passengers with invisible impairments or conditions to signal that they might need extra help, on the proviso that transport companies employ enough staff to help them and train us in meeting their needs. For more information about RMT’s Disabled Members’ Advisory Committee, email me j.booth@rmt.org.uk<mailto:j.bo oth@rmt.org.uk> Janine Booth Secretary, RMT Disabled Members' Advisory Committee President’s column FIGHTING TOGETHER who challenged racism on the railway in an era when it was all pervasive. “The union remains eternally vigilant in the fight against racism and it is important we remember Asquith Xavier and those trade unionists that blazed a trail for us over five decades ago,” he said. Asquith Xavier ‘s daughter Maria Xavier spoke at the unveiling on the centenary of his birth. “This plaque has helped shed light on his achievements within British race relations and employment law,” she said. Asquith’s granddaughter Camaelia Xavier-Chihota also said that the plaque recognised how her grandfather overcame adversity and prejudice in the campaign for racial equality in Britain in the 1960’s and acknowledges his legacy as part of modern-day history. A thought for everyone! Is the abuse of our email system to make statements for self gratification acceptable? We must start fighting together! What's right or what's wrong? Having decided this month to share my column. Please read what is below and consider that we as humans are responsible for. Solidarity, Michelle Presi UITH