The actions of the Rail, Maritime and Transport worker’s union members this week are a clear sign that the system we have grown to live with over the last few decades clearly does not work. At a time when the working class public are making the very difficult decision between heating and eating, it is very hard to comprehend the vast profits being made and bonuses being paid to big businesses and CEO’s the length and breadth of the country.
The collective voice of many has been silenced into accepting a broken system. Voter apathy has won against a backdrop of increasingly right wing policies and manifestos. A system where empty gestures and promises from politicians at Westminster merely serve to keep the status quo, where the rich get richer and the most vulnerable in our societies are marginalised and left to ponder how they will exist from day to day.
The clear message handed to the RMT through its members provides a unified voice of collective bargaining behind their trade union. An incredible 79% of the balloted members took part in the vote and an equally incredible 89% of those voting supported the strike action. In a time of political spin, there is no clearer mandate to work with – this is not militant action.
The public face of the strike action; Mick Lynch has been thrust into view amid a concerted effort by the British media to demonise the work of the Trade Union. However, the media have completely misjudged the Secretary-General of the Union. An unflappable portrait of a man steadfast working towards a common goal has been sketched out interview after interview for everyone to see and to stand behind. The usual outlets and commentators have tried to distract the public from the real issue at hand, labelling Lynch as a Marxist or comparing him to a Thunderbirds Villain.
In reality Mick Lynch follows in the great line of Union Leaders and social reformers produced here in Britain. From the days of Tom Mann, John McLean, James Larkin and James Connolly to Jimmy Reid, Arthur Scargill and Bob Crow the socialist trade union movement in this country has been at the forefront of pushing for workers’ rights and changing the face of our working environments for the better.
We are at a crossroads in UK politics, there is a serious danger that we will sleepwalk into a far right state. The threads of this have already been sown with the Westminster Government stripping away our rights to protest and strike, all but closing our borders, deporting those seeking refuge, alienating our closest neighbours and trade markets as well as altering the terms of the human rights bill. This is not only a Government issue; it lies at the heart of the representatives voted into parliament. Where we should expect opposition from a Labour party hungry for change we only see malaise and at times the Labour leader turning his back on the founding principles of the party.
To use the quote from Bob Crow, “If you fight you won’t always win, but if you don’t fight you will always lose”, each of the union leaders named previously did not always get what the strived to achieve, but they built a movement and a belief that we can achieve better things for ourselves and our colleagues. On the picket lines up and down the country the Network Rail workers are standing shoulder to shoulder with you and me as well as the spirit of the union activists who fought for better rights throughout the decades.
