Public services not private profit

Demanding the return of the railways and other privatised indutstries to public ownership; opposing further privatisations

Disabled Access to Public Transport: TUC Disabled Workers' Conference Speech

This is the speech I gave to TUC Disabled Workers' Conference on 28 May.

Many of you will have your own experiences of both the freedom provided by public transport and the difficulty using it – be that the railway, buses, shipping, air travel, trams, riverboats, taxis, or other modes of transport.

Let’s look at some statistics and facts – mainly about the railways.

In a 2013 survey of disabled people, nearly 80% used the railways, half of them at least monthly, often weekly or more.

RMT Anti-rail Cuts Campaign Targets Clapham Junction

Rail union RMT , along with the Battersea and Wandsworth TUC, will be holding the latest in a series of anti-rail cuts demonstrations and public meetings next week, distributing postcards and leaflets and engaging with the public at Clapham Junction Railway Station between 5.30 and 6.30pm on Wednesday 26th March 2014 with a public meeting later in the evening at 7pm at the PCS HQ building at 160 Falcon Road right next to the station.

Speakers at the public meeting include,

PETER PINKNEY (RMT NATIONAL PRESIDENT)

JOHN MCDONNELL MP (CONVENOR RMT PARLIAMENTARY GROUP)

Bob Crow Warns Of Attack On Workers In 2014

RMT general secretary Bob Crow warns of hard year of campaigning and action ahead in New Year message.

"No one should be under any illusions. 2014 will be a tough year for Britain's workers as the Government ratchets up its attacks on workers rights and public services. Cuts are set to escalate and only militant and coordinated action across workplaces and communities can stop the bulldozer of austerity

TfL Announces Reorganisation Which RMT Believes Will Lead To Privatisation & Cuts

We note the correspondence from Transport for London dated 12 September 2013, and instruct the General Secretary to forward this to our TfL reps and our TfL no.1 branch and to post it on our website alongside this decision and our ‘What is Market Testing?’ briefing.

We reaffirm that RMT opposes market testing, a process which is used as a pretext either to privatise services or to make cuts to in-house services. In line with this, we note that TfL’s letter sets out that it is making plans to:

  • either reorganise or outsource Recruitment
  • reorganise Learning and Development

20th Anniversary Of Railway Privatisation Disaster

20 years on from the Act privatising Britain’s railways RMT calls for an end to the great rail rip-off
With November 5th marking the twentieth anniversary of the passing of the Railways Act, which condemned lifeline transport services in Britain to a generation of fragmentation and exploitation, rail union RMT has launched a fresh drive to end the privatised rip off which has left passengers paying the highest fares in Europe to travel on overcrowded, unreliable services.

New research from RMT shows that:

Protest at EU Commission Against EU Rail Privatisation

RAIL UNION RMT will be backing the European Transport Workers Federation (ETF) and Action for Rail day of action against EU rail privatisation with protests outside European Commission Offices in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh this Wednesday October 9.

The European Union’s so called “Fourth Rail Package” aims to enforce the fragmentation and privatisation of domestic rail services across the continent, including the compulsory competitive tendering of rail passenger services and separation of infrastructure and operations.

Demo: Save Whitechapel Ticket Office

The RMT will hold a demonstration opposing the closure of Whitechapel ticket office on Saturday 19th October between 09.30am and 10.30am, outside Whitechapel station.

Everyone is welcome to attend, so please feel free to spread the word to anyone you think would be interested.

Attached is a poster, which you can display in your workplace.

See you there.

Lorna Tooley
Branch Secretary
East Ham Branch, RMT