CALLING YOUNG MEMBERS!

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2023 :: RMTnews 20 On New Year’s Eve 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was informed of a cluster of cases of pneumonia, of unknown cause, detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. On New Year's Day 2020, I started as a health and safety rep. Someone up there has a sense of humour as soon we’d all be losing our sense of smell.  Joking aside, being an RMT health and safety rep during the pandemic was particularly challenging and at times devastatingly sad. I pushed myself harder than perhaps I should have and saw many comrades doing the same. I was struck time and time again, however by how incredibly supported I was in my role. As I come out the other side, I feel like I made my workplace a safer place and I know that I grew in confidence as a rep and as a Union member. However, as an RMT young member and a health and safety rep, I am in the minority. Many of our health and safety reps are in fact getting towards the age where they will want to start a well- earned retirement. At a recent young member’s meeting, I asked if anyone else had been a health and safety rep. While the majority had held positions at branch, most people had been industrial relations reps. Possible reasons for the lack of younger members being health and safety reps included, not being as interested in that area, an impression that there is quite a lot of knowledge required, existing reps doing a good job. One of the few other such reps said that they started doing it because no-one else wanted the position, a similar situation to mine. However, we both found it to be very fulfilling in the end. Many people attending the meeting didn't realise how much protected time came with health and safety positions to allow you to get trained and to do the role properly.  To overcome some of these barriers, RMT’s health and safety advisory committee and young members advisory committee are now working together on a strategy to tackle the lack of younger members in rep positions and to ensure that knowledge and skills are being transferred within our membership. At the health and safety conference next month Ann Joss will be signing up people willing to mentor younger members interested in becoming health and safety reps in their workplace. I will be asking delegates to the young members conference to come with prior knowledge of any health and safety vacancies in their branch. We will also be hosting Shelly Asquith, the TUC’s health, safety and wellbeing officer who has been doing great work on bringing through young health and safety reps for many years. Hopefully, young members will be inspired to take up local health and safety positions or to find and support another young member into a vacant position within their branch, if there isn’t a vacancy for their own workplace currently I found that being a Health and Safety rep can be a big job, but it becomes manageable when you realise that you are generally released from normal duty to do it and the training available from the union and the TUC is very comprehensive. I would encourage all young members to consider taking up a health and safety position, even if they are initially daunted by the fact that it can involve laws and paperwork. In fact, most of the job is common sense and the other stuff can be learned as you go along, with courses to develop your knowledge further each year, and lots of experienced reps around you to consult. Ultimately, much worse than a new health and safety rep, is no rep at all. So, don’t delay if you are or you know a younger member who might be interested in becoming a health and safety rep, encourage them to come to branch, help them get elected to the position and show them how to get released for the training courses, or feel free to put them in contact with me at YMchair@RMT.org.uk BOARD ROOM: RMT’s young members advisory committee recently met at Unity House with Rupert Pickering in the chair. They are planning this year’s young members conference which takes place in Hastings next month. Further details from YMchair@rmt.org.uk CALLING YOUNG MEMBERS! Young members committee chair Rupert Pickering calls for new health and safety reps to step forward