RMT press releases

Mayor Boris Johnson to face more pressure over London Living Wage for tube cleaners at Mayor’s questions

richardLONDON MAYOR Boris Johnson will come under renewed pressure at Mayor’s Questions today (Wednesday September 9) over his failure to ensure that cleaners working for contractors on London Underground receive the London Living Wage that they are entitled to.

The issue will be raised today by Labour GLA Leader Val Shawcross as part of an on-going campaign by tube union RMT to get the cleaners the London Living Wage that they deserve.

RMT bus workers at London United mount protest over harassment of members

RMT BUS members at London United will be mounting a protest at the company’s London headquarters this Wednesday ( September 9) in a fightback against the victimisation and harassment of RMT members building a fighting and campaigning union organisation that has challenged the company for a fair deal on pay and working conditions.

RMT is growing fast at London United and the response of the company has been to hit back at individual members of staff with completely unfounded threats that the union will not be able to represent them if they find themselves in trouble.

RMT chalks up major victory over Tube job security

TUBE UNION RMT today welcomed a major breakthrough in an on-going dispute with London Underground which will see the company sticking to agreed policies on redundancies, protecting the futures of a thousand staff who had been identified as being at risk.

The dispute, which was at the heart of the 48 hour tube strike earlier this year, has led to long hours of direct negotiation both face to face and through ACAS.

Bob Crow RMT general secretary said today:

RMT calls for full support for Vestas day of action

OFFSHORE ENERGY UNION RMT today called for full support for a day of action in support of the Vestas wind turbines factory campaign which will be marked by events up and down the country tomorrow (Wednesday August 12).

RMT, which represents a substantial block of the Vestas workforce, is continuing to support the fight to get the Isle of Wight factory back into production and is sending out a clear signal that the campaign for wind turbine manufacture in England is far from over.

RMT accuses Vestas of knocking back turbine factory rescue deal

OFFSHORE ENERGY UNION RMT today accused the owners of the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight of “kicking the legs” from under a rescue package that could have saved it from closure.

RMT officials Bob Crow and John Leach, along with representatives of the Vestas workforce, met with energy minister Joan Ruddock yesterday to discuss the future of the factory.

During the meeting it emerged that the government had offered a series of rescue options to the company but each one had been rejected.

Statement on National Express East Anglia Action Today

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said

"Our members have shown again that they are solid,angry and determined to secure a fair deal on pay and conditions from a company that is obsessed with maximising profits at the expense of staff and the traveling public.

National express have provoked this action and have alienated their entire workforce across all three unions. Those workers have shown that they are not prepared to take a hit to prop up the profits of a company whose management have shown that they are not fit to run rail services."

National Express East Anglia strike rock solid as RMT renews calls for company to be stripped of franchises

RAIL UNION RMT confirmed that today’s strike action on National Express East Anglia has been solidly supported across the franchise with the vast majority of services at a complete standstill and with managers running only a few token, ghost trains as a publicity stunt.

RMT members have shown their all-out determination to secure a fair deal on pay and working conditions from a company which has sucked in billions in public subsidies in the past ten years.

Vestas Occupation - Rally Tonight

Offshore energy union RMT will this evening fly a plane with messages of support for the Vestas occupation over the factory as Bob Crow and other supporters of the fight for jobs and green energy mass outside the gates for a rally in solidarity with the Vestas workforce at 6pm.

RMT and other trade unionists today managed to get some supplies of food and drink into the occupation. RMT have been working on contingency plans to drop food in by helicopter if necessary to ensure that the Vestas workers are not starved into submission and have called upon the wider trade union movement to ensure that supplies are maintained.

RMT pledges full support to Vestas occupation – Bob Crow to visit factory tomorrow

TRANSPORT UNION RMT today pledged full support to the workers occupying the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight and confirmed that RMT general secretary Bob Crow will be making a solidarity visit to the occupation at 6pm tomorrow evening (Thursday 23rd July).

The Vestas factory is the only unit in England manufacturing wind turbines. The Dutch company which owns it are trying to close the factory down with the loss of 625 jobs blaming the British government’s lack of commitment to renewable energy. The company is reported to have made profits of $56 million in the> first quarter of this year alone – a rise of 70% on last year.

The factory has been under workers occupation since Tuesday. Communication lines into the factory have been cut and deliveries of food and water have been blockaded by private security guards. This morning, those involved in the occupation have been threatened with summary dismissal.

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said today:
“Nothing underlines the attack on job and communities that has been unleashed in the UK by greedy bosses and incompetent politicians better than the occupation at Vestas.

RMT Reaction to Mayor Boris Johnson's Comments that a Quarter of a Million Pounds a Year From His Second Job is "Chickenfeed"

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said:

“Transport workers in London will look at Boris Johnson’s claim that £250,000 a year for moonlighting in a second job is “chickenfeed” and wonder just what planet he’s living on.

“Our members working as cleaners on London Underground, who have been denied the London Living Wage that was promised them by Boris Johnson, will be especially angry when they are out there doing dirty jobs for little more than six pounds an hour.