RMT (trade union)

Last updated

RMT
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
Predecessor National Union of Railwaymen
National Union of Seamen
Founded1990
Headquarters London, NW1
Location
Members
Increase2.svg 81,543 (2023) [1]
Key people
 Mick Lynch, General Secretary
Alex Gordon, President [2]
Affiliations Labour (1990–2004), [3] TUC, ICTU, STUC, ITF, WFTU TUCG, NSSN, ETF
Website rmt.org.uk

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (commonly known as the RMT) is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is Alex Gordon and its current General Secretary is Mick Lynch. [4] [5]

Contents

The RMT is one of Britain's fastest growing trade unions. Membership rose under and following the leadership of Bob Crow, increasing from 57,000 in 2002 [6] to almost 81,500 in 2019. [1] [7]

History

The RMT was formed in 1990 through a merger of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and the National Union of Seamen (NUS) to create a single transport industry trade union.

Political activity

RMT members protest at the 2011 anti-cuts protest in London RMT Protest.jpg
RMT members protest at the 2011 anti-cuts protest in London

The predecessor unions to the National Union of Railwaymen and the National Union of Seamen were founding members of the original Labour Representation Committee [8] and after its creation the RMT became a prominent voice on the left of the Labour Party. In 2003 some Scottish branches of the RMT voted to donate some of their funds to the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in protest against the policies of Tony Blair and New Labour, such as not renationalising the railways. [8] This led the Labour Party to expel the union in early 2004 for breaching its rules.[ which? ] [8]

The RMT announced in 2009 that it would be standing a slate of candidates in the 2009 European Parliament elections under the banner of No to EU – Yes to Democracy, a broad left-wing alter-globalisation coalition which aimed to offer an alternative to the pro-business policies of the UK Independence Party. [9] The RMT then became a founding member of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), a left wing political party which has contested the 2010 and 2015 general elections.

The RMT was in favour of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union in the 2016 referendum on the subject. However, RMT members Sean Hoyle, Peter Pinkney, Paul McDonnell and John Reid signed a letter in The Guardian , voicing their opposition to the Electoral Commission choosing Leave.EU, Vote Leave or Grassroots Out as the official group advocating for British withdrawal in the referendum, saying that:

We call on the commission not to give taxpayers' money to the Tory and Ukip-dominated Vote Leave, Leave.EU or Grassroots Out campaigns, or any amalgam of them ... We believe there are millions of trade unionists, young people, anti-austerity campaigners and working-class voters, whose opposition to the big business-dominated EU would not be represented by these organisations. ... We call on the Electoral Commission to recognise that a significant proportion of those who will vote against the EU do so because they support basic socialist policies of workers' rights, public ownership, and opposition to austerity and racism. [10]

In July 2015, the RMT endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. [11]

London Underground

The RMT represents most London Underground staff, as well as many other workers in the London public transport network. The RMT has had a number of disputes with Transport for London and private sector contractors Metronet and Tube Lines [a] [12] over pay, safety, pensions and job security on the Underground. These disputes have often resulted in industrial action, leading to periods of travel disruption in the capital over the last decade.[ clarification needed ] [13] [14] [15]

2022 strike

In May 2022, the union began balloting 40,000 members on a strike action that might be joined by the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA). Both managers and operators would be affected. Rail insiders have accused the union leaders of balloting prematurely without negotiation. [16] Of primary concern to the unions were the upcoming job cuts at Network Rail and a demand for pay rises to offset the cost of living. [16] Coming out of the pandemic, fewer passengers are currently using railways, however. Rail minister Wendy Morton and rail companies have emphasised the need to modernise the sector and reduce its cost base. [16]

Union members backed industrial action overwhelmingly, and 24-hour strikes were scheduled for 21, 23 and 25 June. [17] [18] Both the RMT and the TSSA warned of a level of disruption not experienced since the 1926 general strike. [16] Rail companies began drawing up plans to prioritise freight delivery over passenger services in order to keep supermarkets stocked. [17]

Affiliations

The RMT is affiliated to a number of political organisations and trade union confederations. In the United Kingdom and Ireland the RMT is affiliated with the Trades Union Congress, the Scottish Trades Union Congress, the Wales Trades Union Congress [19] and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. [20] Internationally the RMT is affiliated to the European Transport Workers Federation and the International Transport Workers Federation, [19] as well as the World Federation of Trade Unions. [21]

Politically the RMT was affiliated with the left wing political party, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), [22] [23] which it co-founded, until it disaffiliated in 2022. [24] The RMT is also affiliated to the Labour Representation Committee, [25] a pressure group which aims to promote traditional socialist principles within the Labour Party.

The RMT has provided 23,000 trade union cases to the Railway Work, Life and Death Project. This data includes information on accidents and disabilities on thousands of members, from the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants and National Union of Railwaymen during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [26]

RMT Credit Union

RMT Credit Union Limited is a savings and loans co-operative established by the trade union for its members in 2004. [27] It is a member of UKCreditUnions Limited, a national trade association representing smaller credit unions, steering groups and support organisations. [28] The credit union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the PRA. Ultimately, like the banks and building societies, members' savings are protected against business failure by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. [29]

Leadership

General Secretaries

1990: Jimmy Knapp
2001: Bob Crow
2014: Mick Cash
2021: Mick Lynch

Senior Assistant General Secretaries

1990: Andy Dodds
1991: Wilf Proudfoot
1994: Vernon Hince
2002: Mick Cash
2014: Steve Hedley
2021: Eddie Dempsey

Presidents

1990: John Cogger
1993: Don Loughlin
1996: John Cogger
1999: Phil Boston
2002: John Cogger
2004: Tony Donaghey
2007: John Leach
2010: Alex Gordon
2013: Peter Pinkney
2016: Sean Hoyle
2019: Michelle Rodgers
2022: Alex Gordon

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Train drivers' union ASLEF represents London Underground train drivers, and has co-ordinated disputes with the RMT.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Crow</span> British trade union leader

Robert Crow was an English trade union leader who served as the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from 2002 until his death in 2014. He was also a member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). A self-described "communist/socialist", he was a leading figure in the No to EU – Yes to Democracy campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Trades Union Congress</span> Scottish trade union federation

The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists.

In British politics, an affiliated trade union is one that is linked to the Labour Party. The party was created by the trade unions and socialist societies in 1900 as the Labour Representation Committee and the unions have retained close institutional links with it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ASLEF</span> British trade union

The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) is a British trade union representing drivers of trains including services such as the London Underground (Tube). It is part of the International Transport Workers' Federation and the European Transport Workers' Federation. At the end of 2019 ASLEF had 24,479 members. Mick Whelan became its General Secretary in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Union of Railwaymen</span> Trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom

The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. The largest railway workers' union in the country, it was influential in the national trade union movement.

David John Nellist is a British Trotskyist activist who was the MP for the constituency of Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. Elected as a Labour MP, his support for the Militant tendency led to his eventual expulsion from the party in late 1991. He is the National Chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), a member of the Socialist Party, and was a city councillor in Coventry from 1998 to 2012.

The Campaign For A New Workers' Party was an initiative of the Socialist Party of England and Wales that argued for the establishment of a new mass workers' party, involving trade union activists, socialists, anti-capitalists, anti-war and environmental activists. It was launched at the party's annual Socialism event in November 2005. There were more than 4,000 signatories to the campaign's founding declaration, many of whom were trade unionists. Some left parties claimed that the CNWP was a front for the Socialist Party.

James Knapp was a British trade unionist. He was successively General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) from 1983, and then of the merged National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from 1990 to his death in 2001. He served on the executive board of the International Transport Workers' Federation from 1983 to 2001, the General Council of the Trades Union Congress from 1983 to 2001, and was President of the Trades Union Congress in 1994.

The British left can refer to multiple concepts. It is sometimes used as shorthand for groups aligned with the Labour Party. It can also refer to other individuals, groups and political parties that have sought egalitarian changes in the economic, political, and cultural institutions of the United Kingdom. There are various sub-groups, split between reformist and revolutionary viewpoints. Progressives and social democrats believe that equality can be accommodated into existing capitalist structures, but they differ in their criticism of capitalism and on the extent of reform and the welfare state. Anarchists, communists, and socialists, among others on the far left, on the other hand argue for abolition of the capitalist system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No2EU</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

No2EU is a left-wing Eurosceptic electoral alliance in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2009 when it campaigned under the campaign slogan No2EU — Yes to Democracy; it was led by Bob Crow and backed by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), who provided most of its funding, the Communist Party of Britain and Solidarity (Scotland) among others. It participated in the 2009 European Parliament elections and the European elections in 2014 with the party name "No2EU" and the campaign slogan No2EU — Yes to Workers' Rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance in Britain. It was originally launched for the 2010 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Britain</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and supports what it regards as existing socialist states. The party has fraternal relationships with the ruling parties in Cuba, China, Laos, and Vietnam. It is affiliated nationally to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. It is a member of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, together with 117 other political parties. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the party was one of two original British signatories to the Pyongyang Declaration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom</span>

Socialism in the United Kingdom is thought to stretch back to the 19th century from roots arising in the English Civil War. Notions of socialism in Great Britain have taken many different forms from the utopian philanthropism of Robert Owen through to the reformist electoral project enshrined in the Labour Party that was founded in 1900 and nationalised a fifth of the British economy in the late 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Party (England and Wales)</span> Political party in The United Kingdom England & Wales

The Socialist Party is a Trotskyist political party in England and Wales. Founded in 1997, it had formerly been Militant, an entryist group in the Labour Party from 1964 to 1991, which became Militant Labour from 1991 until 1997. It is a member of the refounded Committee for a Workers' International, and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

Michael Joseph Cash is an English trade unionist, and the former general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT).

Peter Pinkney is a British trade unionist, who served as President of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from December 2012 until 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mick Lynch (trade unionist)</span> British trade unionist

Michael Lynch is a British-Irish trade unionist who has served as the General Secretary of the UK's National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers since May 2021. Since the high-profile rail strikes of 2022-2023, Lynch has become a spokesperson and symbol for the wider trade unionist movement.

This article lists the election results of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in UK elections.

The 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes were an industrial dispute between rail workers and companies, with the latter supported by the UK government. The rail workers are represented by several unions including the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF). The railway strikes commenced on 21 June 2022 after workers walked out over wages, planned changes to working practices – involving the removal of guards from trains, the reduction in the number of open ticket offices, and an increase in the age at which people could claim the young persons and senior citizen card – and the threat of redundancies. The industrial action was the largest in the sector since 1989, and involved 40,000 workers nationwide.

Eddie Dempsey is the assistant general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), a trade union in the UK. He was elected in October 2021 to serve a five-year term until October 2026.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers: annual returns". gov.uk.
  2. ↑ "Structure". Rmt.org.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Tempest, Matthew (6 February 2004). "RMT vote ends historic link with Labour". the Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  4. ↑ "Senior RMT Officials". Rmt.org.uk. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  5. ↑ "Mick Lynch elected as New RMT General Secretary". Rmt.org.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  6. ↑ Mustafer, Shanaz (25 January 2012). "Trade unions: Not dead yet". BBC News Online . Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "About us". Rmt.org.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 "Rail union breaks with Labour". BBC News. 7 February 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Exclusive: Tommy Sheridan to stand for Euro elections". Daily Record. 10 March 2009. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  10. ↑ Letters (21 February 2016). "Don't give taxpayer's money to Tory and Ukip Leave groups". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Syal, Rajeev (5 July 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn gets backing of Unite in Labour leadership race". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  12. ↑ "England | Second Tube strike hits London". BBC News. 2 October 2002. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  13. ↑ "Tube strike causes travel chaos". BBC News. 4 September 2007. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  14. ↑ Ashton, Emily (11 June 2009). "Mayor 'provoked Tube strike'" . The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  15. ↑ "Bob Crow on RMT 48-Hour London Underground Strike". RMT. 10 June 2009. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Clatworthy, Ben (21 May 2022). "Rail strike chaos looms" . The Times. Rail insiders accused the union leaders of balloting for strikes prematurely and without attempting to negotiate
  17. 1 2 Greenwood, George (30 May 2022). "Rail strike to last 'a very, very long time', says union baron Mick Lynch". The Times. Members of the RMT at Network Rail and 13 train operators overwhelmingly backed industrial action in a ballot last week.
  18. ↑ Clatworthy, Ben (10 June 2022). "Ministers urged to stop big new rise in rail fares" . The Times.
  19. 1 2 "Political". RMT.org.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  20. ↑ "Affiliated Unions & Trades Councils » About Congress » Congress – Irish Congress of Trade Unions". Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
  21. ↑ "Britain: WFTU Transport affiliates hold European meeting hosted by RMT". WFTU. May 2014.
  22. ↑ "RMT Conference Unanimously Votes To Continue Support For TUSC". TUSC. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  23. ↑ "RMT union conference sees big step forward for TUSC". Tusc.org.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  24. ↑ "RMT AGM: Missed opportunity in the fight for workers' politics". Socialist Party. 13 July 2022.
  25. ↑ "LRC Affiliates". L-r-c.org.uk. Labour Representation Committee. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  26. ↑ Esbester, Mike (18 September 2023). "Recording union history: the MRC at 50". Railway Work, Life & Death. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  27. ↑ "RMT Credit Union". National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  28. ↑ "Credit Unions in London". Ukcu.coop. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  29. ↑ "A guide for credit unions" (PDF). FSCS.org.uk. Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.