EAST OF ENGLAND ORGANISING

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2024 :: RMTnews 19 The London & Anglia (L&A) regional council of the union covers the East of England and those services that run into London, a huge geographical area which present its own challenges when it comes to organising. It is a region that is traditionally underserved by transport links of any mode, as a look at any map will show you, and the region is the poor relative compared to all other points of the compass. This hasn’t prevented the regional council boasting almost 10,000 members organised across an extensive area and RMT representatives have been busy organising to build the union and extend the benefits of trade union representation across the transport industry. Kathy Mazur is the RMT regional organiser and has previously served on the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC). Her career on the railway began in dispatch and now she spends her time, together with the L&A regional council, directing the work to comprehensively organise the transport sector. There’s a considerable amount of work to maintain an RMT presence where it has been traditionally strong as well as extending the union’s influence to other sites and workplaces. The union is in the process of becoming a serious and organised presence in these areas, working towards signing agreements with employers to recognise RMT as their union for collective bargaining. The two main train operating companies that extend out of London are Greater Anglia (GA), which covers the Great Eastern mainline and its subsidiaries, as well as c2c, a smaller operation which serves the Essex Thameside Route between London and Southend-on-Sea. The successful campaign to save railway ticket offices was used as an organising opportunity to hold organised visits to parts of the region’s railway network where the union did not have an existing membership and activist base. Kathy explains that these activities resulted in new members as well as reps at both companies. “Throughout the campaign to save ticket offices we were the only union committed to the wholesale rejection of the plans to cut offices and hours, and by our North Thames and LTS Branch systematically visiting all workplaces on the service we’ve seen a marked increase in members. “It’s clear that where a fighting lead is given, our members follow and trust their elected reps to protect their interests,” she said. The Eastern half of the Elizabeth line and London Overground and subcontractors are also organised within the L&A region. RMT Company Council rep at MTR Elizabeth line Kierin Offlands was recently awarded the coveted John Cogger youth award for his outstanding contribution to organising in this area. TRAINCARE More recently Kathy has been working with the regional council to increase RMT organisation amongst traincare workers, both engineering and cleaning, with a particular focus on OCS, a company with an expansive portfolio of contracted services but a less than stellar reputation in the railway sector as an employer. In-line with the union’s decision to campaign to increase membership at this employer on both LNER and AWC contracts, the regional council and local branches have been busy mapping membership and planning recruitment activities to target sites with the weakest density. This means that the union will be able to conduct next year’s pay talks from a position of relative strength, with visits to Peterborough, Watford, Kings Cross and Euston taking place. There’s numerous traincare depots, at Ilforld, West Ham, Norwich, Colchester and Clacton to name but a few to be organised. This is alongside a substantial number of ports employing dockworkers and seafarers, as well as transport workers employed in industries such as road haulage and, to a lesser extent, road passenger services. Regional council and branch plans determine the work of activists to ensure that RMT is at the forefront of industrial trade unionism in the region. EAST OF ENGLAND ORGANISING The challenges of organising transport workers in the east of the country ORGANISING IN THE EAST: RMT company council reps Rowan James, James Davenport, Keith Dumbrell, Ray Williams, Peter Duly, Andrew Shevlin