Fight for socialist nationalisation
Socialist Party members in the RMT
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the RMT transport union meets as Starmer’s Labour government nears its first anniversary in office. However, economic power remains in the hands of the bosses, and it’s clear that Starmer’s starting point is to represent their interests, not those of workers.
Some may try to point to the establishment of Great British Railways (GBR) as contrary evidence to this assessment. But the RMT must face up to the reality of what this means.
Delegates will be correctly considering the implications of GBR for our members’ jobs, pay and conditions, as individual Train Operating Companies (TOCs) are absorbed into public ownership and Network Rail becomes part of a new national railway company.
RMT has campaigned for a nationalised railway and socialists welcome the end of the firms which have done little more than suck profits out of the system. However, profitable freight operations and parasitic rolling stock leasing companies remain in private hands.
And if the TOCs aren’t nationalised on a socialist basis, with democratic workers’ control and management, as part of an integrated publicly owned transport network, they will still be run in the interests of the capitalists, at the expense of rail workers and the wider working-class transport users.
As the Covid pandemic and soaring inflation becomes a distant memory, our wages continue to lag behind where we should be.
It is concerning that we have just agreed a pay deal with Network Rail (NR) which meets RPI inflation yet has been partly paid for through productivity.
The referendum was put out without a recommendation and showed a small majority in favour of acceptance.
Had the National Executive Committee (NEC) decided to put the offer out with a recommendation to reject, alongside a fighting strategy to win, the outcome could have been very different.
A passive ‘make your own mind up’ approach has been apparent in several recent NR pay referendums and many members are wondering why the leadership is reluctant to give a lead. If members do not feel there is a fighting strategy from the leadership, is it any wonder some vote to accept a poor offer?
The result of the NR referendum has implications beyond our NR members and sets a low benchmark for our pay talks with the TOCs, London Underground and other employers.
RMT must fight attempts by the Labour government to attack our jobs, pay and conditions in order to cut spending and satisfy the bond markets.
When our members rightly reject any pay offer from an employer which requires us to give up terms and conditions, those employers will point to the NR deal and ask how we can justify rejection since we agreed to it at NR.
RMT must set out a strategy of fighting for inflation-proof pay deals for our members and build a campaign to win. Members will only vote for something better if they see a leadership with a winning strategy and which is prepared to fight the bosses for it.
Bob Crow’s approach
When Mick Lynch announced his retirement six months ago, Socialist Party members in the RMT said: “The election of a new general secretary comes at a critical time, as RMT members and the wider working class face up to the reality of a pro-capitalist Labour government attempting to force through even more austerity.”
With a new general secretary, Eddie Dempsey, in place for three months, this AGM is now an opportunity to prepare for the fight ahead, including the crucial discussion of how we can reverse the steps back we have taken from the approach of former general secretary, the late Bob Crow.
The recent U-turns by the Labour government are measly but they have been forced out of Starmer by the anger of working-class people. The unions, and the RMT in particular, must take the lead in building an industrial and political opposition to this big business government.
The RMT has a strong record of leading on working-class political representation. Our forebears founded the Labour Party over 120 years ago to fight for a socialist alternative to the Liberal Party. Under Bob Crow’s leadership, the RMT became the first trade union to play a leading role in offering a working-class political alternative to Labour, with No2EU in 2009 and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) from 2010 to 2022.
Then, in both Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership elections, we were the second biggest donors to his leadership campaign, behind only the 1.4 million-strong Unite. However, Jeremy Corbyn has been driven out of Labour and the pro-capitalist wing are more firmly in the driving seat than ever. We need a new workers’ party.
Half a million people signed up to Enough is Enough when it was launched by Mick Lynch and Dave Ward of the Communications Workers Union in 2022, many hoping it was a step to a new party. Unfortunately that opportunity was lost.
But with Starmer’s attacks on the working class and plunging popularity, and the increase in votes for Reform UK, we now need to give the lead in forming a new workers’ party based on militant trade unionism, internationalism, solidarity and socialism. We should begin with calling in the members of our Parliamentary Campaign Group, along with the other independents and suspended Labour MPs, to ensure we establish a bloc of MPs in parliament that will fight for our policies.
RMT AGM fringe meeting hosted by RMT LU Engineering and Piccadilly and District branches
The RMT and political representation – why we need a new workers’ party
Wednesday 25 June, during the lunchbreak
Admiral Woods pub, Waterloo St, G2 6BZ
