TUC

Congress deplores the fact that being gay is illegal in 76 countries, and in 10 of these it is punishable by death or imprisonment. It is also well known that LGBT people in many more regions around the world are victims of violence, such as targeted killings, violent assaults and torture.

Congress therefore looks to the TUC to help the campaign to end discrimination against LGBT people around the world as a human rights principle generally and also to be able to respond swiftly to international events, prioritising case-by-case incidents.
Congress calls on the General Council to:

This is the RMT emergency motion which will be put to TUC congress

Congress notes the “Struck Out” report issued by the Greater London Authority Conservatives on 22nd August 2013 proposing to ban strikes on London Transport and instead use “binding pendulum arbitration" - in which a judge or panel would choose between the positions of the trade union and Transport for London.

At a pre TUC Rally on Sunday lunchtime in Bournemouth, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow will ramp up the call to the trade union movement to support the creation of a “new party of labour” to challenge head on the pro-business, anti-worker agenda of the three main political parties, Tory, Labour and Liberals.

The call comes in the wake of the decision by the GMB union to make serious cuts to its Labour affiliation levels, a decision which has sparked off a major debate in the trade union movement about the future of working class political representation

RMT takes motions on EU referendum and co-ordinated strike action to TUC Congress and plans direct challenge to Ed Miliband over betrayal of working people

Transport union RMT will be taking hard-hitting motions calling for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU (Motion 16) and co-ordination of strike action and campaigning against austerity (Motion 54) to the Trades Union Congress which assembles in Bournemouth this weekend.

The RMT has hired a coach for both the lobby of the TUC conference, and a lobby of the upcoming Tory conference. These coaches are now available to non members for £10.

Lobby of the TUC for a general strike
Sunday 8th September 2013, Pick up 07.45 British Library, Euston Road next to kings cross. Lobby of the TUC , Bournemouth. Return Same day roughly 20.00. RMT Members free, non RMT £10......THIS COACH IS NOW OPEN TO NON RMT MEMBERS. To book your place , email Rossmarshallrmt [at] gmail.com or text 07401144419

Lobby of the Tory party conference

Delegates to this year’s 2-day TUC lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Conference 2013 (27th/28th June) discussed a wide range of issues including homophobic hate crime, International LGBT rights, resisting the government’s austerity policy, solidarity for transgender workers, homophobia in sport, and young homeless LGBT people. The conference was well attended, with over 200 delegates. 4 RMT delegates attended the conference, plus a retired RMT member observer.

Both RMT motions sent to this year’s conference carried unanimous.

The Trades Union Congress Disability Conference carried an emergency motion submitted by RMT calling for a review of the sentence given to Jordan Sheard for the killing of Steven Simpson, on grounds that the attack should have been treated as disability and homophobic hate crime (as well as unacceptable comments from the judge).

The RMT took a motion on the tragic death of Steven Simpson to the TUC Disability conference. The motion details how Steven, a young gay man who was autistic, was brutally killed. On his 18th birthday, he was doused in tanning oil and set alight - he died the next day.

The judge in the case Roger Keen dismissed the crime as ‘good-natured horseplay’ that had gone too far, and sentenced Sheard to a unusually short sentence of just three and a half years in prison.

TUC Black Workers Conference 2013

Emergency Motion 1- PASSED

Trainpeople on London Underground

Conference notes that on 27th February 2013, RMT called on Trainpeople members to take industrial action over London Underground's decision to terminate the contract with Trainpeople Agency.

Through the agency these employees had a variety of customer service roles, including station assistant, gateline and supervisory posts, some for up to 5 years.

Speakers-
Glen Roy Watson (RMT Finsbury Park Branch)
Jayesh Patel (RMT Bakerloo Branch)
Cecile Wright (University College Union)
Frank Murray (RMT LU Engineering Branch)
Janet Barnabie (one of the 33 -RMT Bakerloo Branch)

The RMT hosted a lunch time fringe meeting at the Trade Union Congress Black Workers Conference on the 13th of April 2013. Delegates and Visitors came to hear about the mistreatment of 33 RMT members at the hands of an unscrupulous agency company called trainpeople and the not so positive role of London underground in all this.