Don't curtail RMT democracy!

Posted in Off The Rails's blog on ,
An illustration depicting an Annual General Meeting, with a speaker addressing delegates from a rostrum

RMT activists are rightly fond of emphasising that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) is the "parliament of the union", the highest democratic assembly with supreme decision making power. The 2020 AGM obviously took place in exceptional circumstances, and was conducted on Zoom. On the first day of the AGM, which usually lasts five days, the NEC made a proposal to delegates to shorten the AGM, but on the strict proviso that it would be reconvened no later than 28 February in order to conclude its business.

But in late December, RMT branches were informed that the NEC had rescinded this decision, without replacing it with any other decision, and committing only to review the situation in March 2021.

So as things stand, RMT democracy has been severely curtailed. Numerous motions and proposals from branches, Regional Councils, and equality conferences, were not heard at the shortened AGM in November, and are currently up in the air. Moreover, once the 2020 AGM had voted to endorse the NEC's proposals, it became an AGM decision. By rescinding it, the NEC has in effect overridden the will of the supreme decision making body of the union, a severe affront to rank-and-file democracy.

Branches need to raise protests against this, and demand that the 2020 AGM is reconvened as soon as possible and allowed to conclude its business.

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