ANDY GILCHRIST RETIRES

Andy Gilchrist, the union’s education officer for over 12 years, is retiring from his post after a lifetime commitment to the trade union and labour movement. Like so many trade unionists of his generation his activism began after attending an anti-fascist concert in Victoria Park in 1978 which included The Clash and many other iconic bands. He joined the Fire Brigades Union and quickly rose in the ranks to become Luton branch secretary, regional secretary and on to Executive Council Member. He became national officer by 1996 and was elected general secretary in 2000. He led a national pay dispute and he was proud to address the US Firefighters conference in Phoenix following the 9/11 atrocity. Andy’s high media profile at the time meant that he was Luton Town’s second most famous supporter - after Eric Morecombe! Andy went on to serve on the TUC general council and carried out international trade union projects for T&GWU Africa, Central America, USA Europe, dealing with £multi- million projects which were delivered to highest professional and audit standards. RMT was lucky enough to recruit Andy in 2010 as our education officer and he threw himself into transforming the union education services and developing the Bob Crow education centre. A recent independent ‘Impact Study’ carried out by Dr Andrew Dean of Exeter University found that the projects Andy delivered under his stewardship were outstanding and real value for money. In recent years in addition to his direct education programme role, the union asked him to assume the responsibility of project manager for our Union Learning Fund. He wrote the proposed Round 20 three-year bid at that time, the largest project in the union’s 19-year involvement with ULF. The Round 20 project opened in April 2019 and was clearly challenging as more funding demanded more ‘outcomes’ required to secure reimbursement on a quarterly basis. In spite of many difficulties this work was successfully carried out. However, in October 2020 the govt announced ULF (England) funding would be ended with effect March 31 2021. With government funding withdrawn, as the project team were all on fixed term contracts explicitly dependant on government funding, staff were displaced where they could not return to a substantive post in with an employer. While one individual left, and another found an alternative role, a third could not be accommodated. It was at this point that a former lead union learning employee made what were proven to be wild and unsubstantiated accusations against Andy. The NEC instructed that an independent and forensic accountancy report was launched by an external company into the allegations with the full support of our education officer. This is now the third authoritative report on this fund having already been reported to the TUC and in the RMT’s audited accounts. The report found no evidence of any misuse of funds, nor fraud, but that an individual former staff member on the project may have made some false claims on expenses. It seems likely that this individual was indeed falsely claiming for meetings and associated expenses that may not have occurred. I personally have always had full confidence in our education officer’s work and commitment to the union and the wider trade union movement. The RMT NEC has found that all allegations made against Andy were vexatious and not supported in the independent investigation. Our NEC exonerated Andy in their review and their decision on the audit report. It is unfortunate that during the period leading up to his retirement that Andy has had to deal with these unsubstantiated allegations which he has dealt with professionally and with the highest standard of integrity, which are the hallmarks of his of his character and the values he holds as a dedicated trade unionist. On behalf of the many friends he has made at this union and across our movement, I would like to pay tribute to Andy Gilchrist and wish him all the best in his retirement. After a lifetime dedicated to fighting the cause of working people, he leaves with the best wishes of the RMT. I am sure that he will continue to contribute to the work of the trade union movement as he has his entire working life. RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2022 :: RMTnews 14 ANDY GILCHRIST RETIRES RMT general secretary Mick Lynch pays tribute to the union’s retiring education officer RETIRING: RMT education officer Andy Gilchrist