SEMINAR FOR RMT REPS & ACTIVISTS
Tuesday 23rd September
15.30 – 18.00 Boardroom, Unity House

RMT’s battle to achieve acceptable pay and conditions for cleaners has highlighted difficult issues of immigration law. The bosses are using these extreme reactionary laws to exploit workers. In some cases they claim workers have no employment rights - even after years of work.

On September 16th 2008, 1400, RMT head office, the Liason Commitee meeting of the National Station and Associated Grades Conference will take place. This meeting is to discuss progress of motions and conference. Whilest any voting can only take place by the elected commitee, visitors are most welcome to come and take part in the debate and share ideas.

After senior managers' cull of Duty Revenue Control Managers and Admin, what next for Revenue Control Inspectors - a special meeting has been called by Ross Marshall, Health and Safety rep for BCV. All members invited to discuss the new set up, tactics, future plans and internal RMT plans for RCIs. Meeting will take place at 1400hrs at Unity House (RMT Head Office) on Friday 22 August. Special Guest Speaker is Steve Hedley, London Transport Regional Secretary.

I have already posted a couple of blog entries about particular debates at this year's RMT AGM. Here is a round-up of other discussions - all from a personal point of view, of course!

This is the first time I've been a delegate to RMT's AGM, but not being the shy, retiring type, I had a hatful of resolutions to propose, and something to say on several others.

Date and time: Friday 29 August, 9am-5pm
Venue: Somers Town Community Centre, 150 Ossulston Street, Camden [the same venue as regional council meetings].

This event has two aims: to improve organisation of industrial disputes drawing on past experiences; and to provide training to enhance RMT reps' and activists' skills. The regional council passed resolutions from branches asking for both of these things, so we expect branches to ensure that lots of reps, activists and members attend!

This resolution on Fighting The BNP was passed unanimously at last week's RMT Annual General Meeting.

This union believes that the fascist British National Party is fundamentally an anti-working-class party: it is also racist, anti-semitic, sexist and homophobic. Everything that the BNP stands for is against the interests of the labour and trade union movement.

This policy on Israel / Palestine was passed by RMT's 2008 Annual General Meeting.

This AGM condemns the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and denials of Palestinians' human and national rights. This AGM condemns the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, including Israeli military air strikes and the economic blockade of Gaza, as well as the arbitrary murders of Israeli citizens by suicide bombers and rocket attacks. We note both the Israeli and Palestinian victims of the conflict are usually working-class people, targeted by political and military forces that seek to de-humanise Arab and Jewish workers using anti-semitism, Jew-hatred and anti-Arab racism. We note that the Hamas Charter is a virulently anti-semitic document that exhorts the killing of Jews and subordinates all social and human rights to Islam.

I was very pleased to propose this resolution at RMT's AGM. I had written it as a response to the collapse in Labour's vote in the May 1 local elections, when Boris Johnson won the London Mayor's job for the Tories and Labour Councillors around the country had to clear their desks in the Town Hall. My branch, Stratford no.1, discussed and agreed it, and thus it found its way to the union's AGM as an emergency resolution.

Delegates to RMT's Annual General Meeting last week unanimously agreed the following resolution, which had been submitted by the union's Stratford no.1 branch.

This union notes the disastrous results for the Labour Party in the May 1st elections. We believe that working class voters have deserted the Labour Party because it has abandoned working class people through its policies of cuts, privatisation, war and lining the pockets of the rich at the expense of the poor and low paid.

We are also appalled at the advances made by the fascist BNP in these elections.

This week, I have been out of London at RMT's Annual General Meeting in Nottingham. I am one of eight delegates from the union's London Transport region who met up with over 50 delegates from the rail, maritime and transport industries around the country to make the union's policies.

Over the next few days, i will post on this blog reports of what we discussed and decided. I'll report on my contributions to the deliberations - after all, since union members elected me to go and represent you, you are entitled to know what I got up to!