PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

29 RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 ::january 2023 :: RMTnews President’s column It is customary for the President to use this month’s column to wish all RMT members and their families a happy and a prosperous New Year. Prosperity might seem a fantasy right now for families struggling to cope with double digit inflation, skyrocketing price increases in basic food staples such as milk, bread and pasta and cost hikes in everything from energy to housing under the government of billionaire, Rishi Sunak. However, the reality is that in 2023 we are in a stronger position to win justice for working people than for many years. 2022 was a momentous year for our union and for the working class in Britain. It was a year when workers united and fought back against pay cuts, and attacks on jobs and conditions from the Royal Mail to Liverpool and Felixstowe Docks, to University Lecturers and even Old Bailey Criminal Defence Barristers. RMT members’ extraordinary unity throughout December 2022 and January 2023 taking strike action and refusing to work overtime demonstrated our determination and collective discipline to stand up to rail bosses, Government ministers and their lackeys in the media. Despite the most deceitful, biased, anti- worker press coverage since the 1984 Miners’ Strike, they couldn’t land a glove on our General Secretary, Mick Lynch. He floats like a butterfly, stings like a B-52 bomber. Across Network Rail and fourteen Train Operating Companies, RMT members voted by margins of nine to one to renew our mandate for industrial action in the National Rail Dispute for another six months. Across nine separate railway cleaning contractors, RMT members voted massively for strike action in their fight for £15 an hour, free travel, and sick pay. The truth is that in 2022 RMT members rediscovered our spirit of solidarity and solid discipline that makes employers respect and fear us. We took some mighty blows including the sacking of 700 Seafarers via Zoom by P&O, but we also won real victories including RPI pay increases for some members employed by London Underground, MTR Elizabeth Line, Eurostar, Scotrail and Transport for Wales. Our greatest achievement was to inspire the labour movement to get off its knees and fight back to bust the Tory pay freeze. We now have the formidable task of keeping our movement together and coordinating national industrial disputes with other trade unions representing postal workers, nurses, ambulance drivers, driving instructors, border force staff and teachers to win a real jobs, pay and conditions offer that our members can vote on. In this task we are only able to keep going forward because of the energy, determination, and loyalty of RMT members across all the transport industries. That loyalty rests on our members’ knowledge that their union represents them because we are democratic. We elect our leaders and hold their decisions up to scrutiny and account. It is why we have a lay member elected governing body, our National Executive Committee. Alex Gordon SOLIDARITY BRINGS RESPECT D ave Marshall’s Organising Unit workmates gave him a good send-off recently after Dave decided to retire from his job as a recruitment and retention organiser. Dave started working for the union in 2008 having left the steel workers union where he was a regional organiser – specialising in winning recognition through the legislation/CAC process. National Organising Coordinator Alan Pottage said:“Bob Crow was GS at the time, and he was delighted when Dave started working for us as Bob was already aware of Dave’s abilities. “Dave’s abilities and expertise are now well known amongst many RMT activists. His attention to detail was second to none and he was a gifted negotiator and organiser. “I would especially like to highlight the efforts he made when he was given the task of helping organise our young member activists. RMT’s young team could not have asked for a more dedicated and caring trainer to help tutor them over a six-year period. Many of those young activists are playing a vital role in our union today and when I meet them in my travels they often ask after Dave. “I knew Dave when he worked for steel workers union and when we first met, we had a huge argument after a conference, but we kept buying each other pints. Another regional 0rganiser who witnessed this couldn’t believe we remained good friends, but it just shows that you should be able to have a heated debate without any stupid falling out. “For the following twenty years we continued to disagree on things but I’m still proud to call myself Dave’s friend. “Dave will be missed by many activists who worked alongside him and then became good friends, but we all wish him well with his new adventures,” he said. FAREWELL DAVE MARSHALL