Paul Reilly, RMT AGM delegate, personal capacity
This year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the transport union RMT in Glasgow was the first for newly elected general secretary Eddie Dempsey. His speech called for a renewed unity within our union and recognised that over recent years we have seen fractures within our union over certain contentious issues, but that he hoped for a more unified approach in his tenure as general secretary and that we stand in solidarity for the battles that we face.
Let’s hope that this is the case. In the view of Socialist Party members in the RMT, the best way to achieve that will be to put forward a fighting industrial and political strategy to take on Starmer’s Labour pro-big business government (see ‘RMT AGM: Fighting strategy needed’).
While supporting the speech given by RMT parliamentary group convener John McDonnell MP on the Employment Rights Bill, Eddie also reaffirmed our union’s commitment to oppose all anti-trade union laws, including demands for a repeal on solidarity strikes and secondary picketing. That must include repealing the Tory turnout thresholds immediately.
Nationalisation
There was an ongoing campaign throughout the conference to demand the end of the policy of outsourcing within our industries, which tends to disproportionately affect migrant workers, and to bring all workers in-house, so that we can collectively organise all workers. Bringing the Train Operating Companies back into public ownership in Great British Railways is a first step but we must fight for full democratic nationalisation of all parts of the railways.
Important policies were debated during the week, including calls to protect our workforce against the growing threat of violence, race hate and hate crime as a whole, particularly on gate lines and on trains. We need solid policies to address these issues within the companies we represent members, not only to defend our members in their dealings with the public, but also against company policies.
There were motions on the issue of stress levels facing Network Rail maintenance members, as a result of years of vacancy freezes due to threats of compulsory redundancies, which have resulted in the workforce being reduced to skeleton and inexperienced staffing levels. This could potentially have devastating consequences, not only for the mental health of our members, but also for the safety of the travelling public.
There was also an important emergency motion calling for Scunthorpe steelworks to be nationalised, a move which would see our comrades in the steel industry protected.
A motion on ‘affordable’ public transport, which called for the eventual advent of free public transport, fell. The main opposition to this was based on the effect this could have on our members’ jobs and on the RMT’s campaign to keep ticket offices open. That’s why we have to fight for full funding and socialist democratic public ownership and planning of public transport.
There was also a motion on the need to build more social housing, a debate where the general secretary stated that it’s not ‘social housing’ we need, where it’s in the control of housing associations, but a return to proper council housing, direct from local authorities.
Political debates
This year’s AGM was a fairly uncontroversial event in comparison with some previous years’ conferences, especially regarding more wide-ranging socialist political debates. Fairly surprising, you might think, given the political events that have taken place over this last year, including the success of Reform in recent elections, the return of Donald Trump as president, the escalating genocide taking place in Gaza and the recent bombing campaigns between Israel/America and Iran. There were a few motions regarding some of these issues, but I felt that some of them were weak in their approach.
For example, a motion to oppose Reform UK and to produce material to be sent out to members was carried unanimously, but failed to promote or suggest that the unions should fight for a real workers’ party as an alternative. This issue was debated the same day at the fringe meeting called by the London Underground Engineering and Piccadilly and District West RMT branches (see right).
A class unity approach to war
A motion supporting anti-war, anti-occupation, equal rights, Jewish/Palestinian organisations within Israel was defeated on the basis that our union supports the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) and that ‘Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions’, an organisation closely associated with PSC, has criticised one of those organisations. I seconded the motion, but in doing so addressed the failings in the motion to call out the genocidal, ethnic-cleansing policies of the Netanyahu Israeli government.
An emergency motion entitled ‘No war with Iran’ was passed at conference. While this motion opposed the imperialist attacks on Iran by Israel and the US, it failed to condemn the atrocities carried out by the state of Iran against its own working class, nor the danger that its war policies will inflict on the people of Iran.
Finally, the election result for our assistant general secretary (AGS) position was announced. Daren Ireland, a committed socialist, a great comrade who I personally supported and campaigned for, was elected as our new AGS. I would like to personally congratulate Daren on his successful campaign and election, and wish him comradely support for the future in campaigning to build the fighting union leadership, prepared to stand up to Starmer’s Labour, that our members need!
Debating the need for a new party
RMT’s London Underground Engineering and Piccadilly and District West branches held a fringe meeting on the theme of the crisis in working-class political representation and the need for a new workers’ party.
It was a short, sharp meeting where a variety of views were shared but there was a consensus that Starmer’s Labour currently offered no solutions to working-class people’s problems.
Carlos Barros (RMT National Executive Committee, London Transport) explained that despite Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan expressing a degree of sympathy for the super-exploited outsourced cleaners on London Underground, he fails to show any interest in ending their misery by taking them back in-house.
Philip Stott of the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition explained that TUSC has provided a banner for trade unionists to stand against austerity in elections while making the case for the trade unions taking the lead on setting up a new workers’ party.
A delegate from Nottingham explained how he was once a Labour Party member but now stood as an independent councillor. He pointed out that there were now more left-wing independents and that what was now needed was a national organisation of these forces.
There is clearly a dominant view among reps and activists in RMT that Labour continues to not offer a political voice to the working class. As we near the anniversary of the election into office of Starmer’s New Labour mark 2, the debate about political representation for workers is very much on in the RMT, as it is across the union movement. The challenge remains for trade unions to take the initiative and launch a new workers’ party.
