PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2026 :: RMTnews RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: july/august 2026 :: RMTnews The Annual General Meeting :: LIVERPOOL 2026 Liverpool has a proud trade union history that understands solidarity, resilience and the importance of collective action. It is a fitting place to gather as we reflect on the past and consider the future. In the last year we can point to real examples of progress whilst recognising that we still need to continue the hard work. However, working people continue to face pressures on living standards, uncertainty and concerns about the future. Yet RMT has continued to organise and membership has grown. We have also secured improvements in pay and conditions, defended jobs, continued the fight against outsourcing, strengthened campaigns around workplace safety and assaults on staff, and made the case for public ownership and investment in the industries our members serve. We have seen progress on bringing work back in-house and improvements for outsourced workers. We have continued our campaign against assaults on transport workers and secured gains through negotiation, organisation and collective action. The campaign for insourcing is a trade union campaign that impacts workers beyond the sectors we organise in. Those with the broadest shoulders within our movement must continue to put a clear commitment for positive change. At the same time, we should recognise that our industries are changing and that our union must continue to evolve alongside them. Change is not always comfortable. It is often met with caution and understandable concern. But we should not assume that every change is a threat, nor that every new proposal is an attack. For many years RMT campaigned for public ownership and an end to the failed fragmentation that followed privatisation. Today, we are witnessing the return of rail into public ownership. That is something we can be proud of. But securing public ownership is not the end of the journey, we must make it work for the members. We must help shape a railway that provides long-term stability, secure employment, proper staffing levels, meaningful apprenticeships and skilled careers for future generations. RMT also continues to be the leading maritime union campaigning for fair treatment of seafarers. Our priorities remain clear: job security, safe workplaces, ending outsourcing, strengthening public ownership, growing the union and developing the next generation of activists and representatives. Politically, the situation remains fluid. But RMT has seen governments come and go. It has seen industries transformed. Through all of that, one thing has remained constant: our commitment to organising and defending the interests of our members through our democratic structures and our resolve. Our strength comes from our willingness to debate, to listen, to learn and to move forward together. I thank our branch officers, workplace representatives, activists, national executive committee, regional organisers and all staff who work tirelessly to support our members and our union. Every achievement we discuss began with members who organised and stood together. Members who believed that collective action remains the best way to improve working lives. That remains the greatest strength of the union. Whatever challenges lie ahead, and whatever changes may come in politics, industry or society, I remain confident in the future of his union because I remain confident in its members. George Welch President’s Column ADDRESSING AGM siblings. Mohammed Mujahid, Central Line East said that the switchboard provided a vital service for LGBT+ members and their wider community, particularly for those who may feel isolated or face challenges because of their religious or culture backgrounds. “Believe me, I should know this,” he said. There was also concern about the effect of artificial intelligence on black women members, delegates unanimously backed a motion committing the union to challenging the use of and data-tracking technologies that threaten workers’ rights, privacy and equality. Mel Mullings, Bakerloo warned that the growing influence of technology firms such as Palantir in public services and workplaces risks entrenching discrimination, increasing surveillance and undermining democratic control over public data. “When algorithmic tracking, data harvesting, and AI-driven monitoring are introduced into a workplace, they do not impact everyone equally. “They replicate and amplify a systematic racism already entrenched in our society, so what does this look like in practice? “A Black worker will be tracked by an automated algorithm disproportionately. Its technology is built on data sets that already profile Black and migrant communities as high risk. “Black workers become a target for disproportionate surveillance, automated disciplinary triggers, and harsher capability procedures, all hidden behind a shield of impartial computer programming,” she said. Delegates called for a campaign for the removal of Palantir from public services, including the NHS, and to challenge the growing role of private technology companies in managing public data.