Blog posts

Off The Rails supporters met on May 5th in Birmingham. Under the title “Making our unions fit to fight”, the meeting brought together activists from various disputes to share experiences and discuss how we could make the unions more effective and membership-led.

First up was a report from the...

Trade unions are democratic bodies - unlike, say, employers! All have rule books which, though they could be improved, allow members to have a vote in electing their representatives and deciding policy. But not only do we need to improve union democracy, we must defend it against abuse. Examples...

In April, RMT called off strike action on Metronet after management capitulated. The union had demanded the Infraco drop its plan to transfer the employment of 49 Duty Depot Managers to Bombardier, one of its component companies. Metronet agreed not to go ahead with the transfer.

The sweeteners...

Across the country, companies are steadily de-staffing our stations - and it is high time that the unions broke their silence and called a halt to it.

Many rural and small stations are now unstaffed, leaving no-one to sell tickets, help passengers, pass on service info or request special stop orders...

Early July will see a conference to found a National Shop Stewards’ Network. Rank-and-file organisation like this is essential to making our unions more responsive to workers’ needs.

This initiative came from a conference hosted by RMT which discussed the crisis in working-class political...

The Railway Pensions Committee has produced its first report, having scrutinised submissions from trade unions, employers and government. In general, it is a summation of and commentary on those submissions with additional sections covering the historical and legal background.

The unions made three...

The TUC has written to non-unionised businesses, explaining to them that trade unions are "good for business".

They really don't get it, do they?

Following the recent successful RMT dispute with Metronet, workers who were going to be transferred to Bombardier are not going to be any more.

So why is Metronet asking them to sign an agreement opting out of their TUPE rights? There should be no need for any workers to sign away rights guaranteed...

For a vile example of antisemitism, check out this YouTube page. It manages to denounce the war on terror and Israel as a 'racist apartheid terrorist state'. It also drips antisemitism from every sentence.

I oppose Israel's brutal military oppression of the Palestinians. I believe that there should...