RMT members will soon get their ballot papers in the election for National President.

Tubeworker’s vote will go to John Leach, because we believe that he has the most commitment to rank-and-file members and to fighting the employers. He has a record of doing this, including leading unofficial action in defiance of the anti-union laws. He has also stood up to Bob Crow and the union bureaucracy, and will not simply be a bag-carrier for the General Secretary.

The other leading candidate, Ray Knight, is the nearest you get to a Blairite within RMT. He would spend his term as President doing his best to avoid any confrontation between the union and the employers or the government. Rail and Tube workers will lose out from this approach.

John is also the best candidate in terms of his respect for democracy, his genuine commitment to fighting discrimination, and his views on where the union’s political support should go (ie. only to socialists, not to liberals or nationalists).

Tubeworker has disagreed with some things that John has done on the National Executive. If he is elected President, he will probably do some things that we disagree with again. He will not change the way the union runs as much as Tubeworker would like – but he will change things for the better, and there is no other name on the ballot paper that we can say that about.

But remember – rank-and-file members getting organised is the best way to make any union leader deliver!