Marxist. Trade Unionist. Socialist-feminist. Author. Poet. Speaker. Tutor. RMT ex-Exec. Workers' Liberty. Autie. Bi. PUFC fan.
That National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (UK). I have been a member since 1997, and served on the union's national executive 2011-13.
Training for new RMT reps in the Midlands region, held at the union's Birmingham office.
Register via the union's website or your branch.
Online. GMB reps in the Southerbn region can register via the regional office.
We'd like you to strike
when it doesn't disrupt us
when it won't interrupt us
going about our daily life
We'd like you to strike
when it won't cause strife
when no-one will notice
Please don't misquote us
Of course we support you
we don't want to thwart you
just asking for some consideration
Don't get ideas above your station
These are the opening speeches from this event, held on Zoom on Tuesday 22 March 2022.
Sarah Woolley (General Secretary, Bakers’, Food and Allied Workers’ Union): Welcome to the joint RMT and Free Our Unions TUC Disabled Workers’ Conference fringe meeting.
Walk down locked and empty streets alone,
arrive for start of shift, it's bear-the-brunt time
to serve some others' families not your own
Going from the home front to the frontline
Frozen pay, now tiny, ice-cold 'offers',
red-bordered bills alert approaching deadline
The firing line ignites key workers' coffers
Going from the frontline to the breadline
after Gershwin's song from Porgy and Bess
---
Summertime
and the cost of livin' ain't easy
Bills are jumpin'
and prices are high
Oh, the bosses are rich
and the workers are strugglin'
But hush, little baby
don't you cry
One of these mornin's,
you're going to wake up strikin'
'The Eleventh Commandment' at a flash rally in support of RMT rail strikes, Brighton, 25 June 2022.
Jeremy Westlake
has the second best take
He's in charge of the cash
and makes sure he gets a big stash
Andrew Haines
carefully explains
That his £593,000 pay is not a perk -
He really is worth twenty of the people who do the actual work
---
*Chief Executive Officer of Network Rail
Grant Shapps
He talks and he craps
But often gets confused
About which end he's used