Photo: RMT
The election for the new General Secretary of the Rail, Maritime & Transport Union (RMT) is currently beginning. The RMT is no longer affiliated to the Labour Party having been hijacked by the hard left who are currently trying to retake the GS post after losing it to Mick Cash a more mainstream candidate last time.
There has been much controversy surrounding the internal antics of the RMT which resulted i a leadership breakdown due to alleged bullying by the hard left. (Please see: The RMT union at breaking point for further details).
Whilst the election may not affect the balance of power inside the Labour it would be in the long term interests of the Party for Mick Lynch to win rather than his opponent Steve Hedley who is a hard line far-left activists who has links to the Socialist Party (who are backing him in this election) for which he was briefly a member but resigned due to a "personal controversy" some years ago.
The RMT is the main backer of the Trade Union & Socialist Coalition and provides much of the funding alongside the remains of the old Militant Tendency in the form of the Socialist Party. Hedley and the RMT NEC majority are very much promoters of this sectarian ultra left project
RMT Members should support Mick Lynch whose letter to branches is reproduced below:
The Covid-19 health crisis has amplified the many challenges we face. The employers and the government will be seeking dilutions of pay & conditions, pensions, and health & safety standards in order to restore profits and make working people pay for the crisis. They will also be seeking job cuts in our sectors.Added to this are the existing challenges of new technology, outsourcing, and casualisation.
In the face of this, our members expect the RMT to be a united, professional and assertive union, ready to negotiate, but prepared to fight in order to protect them.
A united RMT is a powerful force capable of winning for our members. We can campaign, fight, and win as we have shown over the years. But our members need good campaigns they believe in, and will take action in support of their agenda.
In the period ahead we need to ensure that RMT is a strong and united Industrial Union that is entirely focused on our members’ needs rather than turning in on ourselves and being distracted from the real tasks our members need us to focus on.
Our union must evolve to suit the challenges before us.
We must develop our union so that we are fully suited to the campaigns ahead, but also so that we are vigorously engaged in the equality agenda – fighting racism, fighting discrimination.
We must bring forward new activists that reflect our diverse membership, our industrial sectors, and their real-life issues.
As General Secretary I will be fully committed to our members’ agenda, building and developing our union for the future, and bringing unity of purpose and action across the organisation.
I was blacklisted from the construction industry for trade union activity so joined the railway and RMT and my record is one of organising, building our strength, campaigning and negotiating good deals.
As an activist and elected RMT national official, I have always sought to do the best for our members and their causes. I believe I am a person that can bring our members together and take forward their campaigns and issues.
In my 42 years of trade union activism and as a national officer I have developed the ability and experience to articulate the RMT’s case and policies – in the branch room, at the negotiation table and in the broadcast media.
The members have to trust the union, believe in us and what we are doing. To identify with RMT from the shopfloor to the national leadership.
I believe that I am a national officer that unites RMT members across grades, sectors, regions and backgrounds. Throughout my time as a trade union activist and officer, workers and members have trusted me to take their issues forward.
We are rightly proud that our members and activists have made RMT a leading force in the working-class movement. We have shown the way through effective campaigns and industrial action, and by being a union that is brave enough to decide its own independent political outlook.
Our members have shown courage and commitment to their union and I am committed to RMT being at the service of our members and that the RMT can go on to further success – to grow and to win.
But that needs maximum unity in our ranks – all grades, all sectors. A united RMT can go on to achieve much more for our members.
I hope that as General Secretary I can play my part for this great union and in the campaigns ahead. I have the skills, knowledge and experience that members can trust in the times ahead and to take this union forward.
Therefore, I would be grateful if your branch would consider my name for nomination as RMT General Secretary.
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