DEBATING ASSAULTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march/april 2026 :: RMTnews 12 Over 300 members joined the union’s annual health and safety conference meeting in Liverpool to hear local MP Kim Johnson insist that violence should never be part of the job for public transport workers. She commended conference for the union’s ongoing ‘Action Against Assaults’ campaign. She said that as transport workers face ever increasing levels of violence and threats, with over 8,000 recorded assaults in the last year, but “too many government officials just shrug their shoulders”. RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey spoke about the union’s connections to the city of Liverpool. “This union was born in Liverpool in 1911 in the great transport workers strike, the first strike of all railway grades, where the famous telegram was sent out by the strike committee, called the Liberty Telegram, calling on all railway workers of all grades and all depots, and in all unions, ‘strike for your liberty, loyalty to each will mean victory to all’. He said that the lesson learnt was that “we are much stronger together, than we are apart” and just two years later, in 1913, the NUR was formed as an all-grades railway workers union. Eddie updated on an important meeting and rally at the Scottish Parliament as part of the Action Against Assaults campaign. The Scottish Parliament accepted 11 recommendations from a trade union working party including to bring about legislation to make it a specific offense to assault a transport worker. RMT assistant general secretary, John Leach spoke with pride at how good it was to see so many faces at conference. “What a testimony it is to our great union. “One of the positive things that came out of our national rail dispute, is that when they came for our jobs, for our pensions and for our conditions what they got was a whole new generation of trade unionists” he said. John updated members from all sectors with a common thread that health and safety can never be taken for granted but shortcuts are always in the employer’s sights. “Our Action Against Assaults campaign is lobbying to change the law so that transport workers get the same entitlement that retail workers get,” he said. Opening the debate on motions, Katie Sugg, Dorset Rail called on the union to consult with employers on the introduction of wellness days. With stress a significant factor for 79 per cent of survey DEBATING ASSAULTS Packed health and safety conference condemns assaults on transport workers