Workers' Liberty

Young members of the RMT met in London on Saturday 5th April for their annual conference.

Guest speakers informed young members about the wider political context of their union work. A speaker from The Cuba Solidarity Campaign was questioned on what Cuba will be like after Castro, about the US blockade and what role a union such as the RMT has, considering there are no independent trade unions in Cuba to receive the RMT’s solidarity! Unsurprisingly, the speaker insisted that all trade unions in Cuba are elected and independent of the government.

Hamish from the PCS gave a history of trade unions and class struggle through history, from the Romans, to the Tolpuddle Martyrs to the miners’ strike. He showed that wherever workers have organised, governments - even in the liberal ‘west’ - have always come down hard on workers’ organisation.

Mick Cash, Senior Assistant General Secretary, talked about the importance of fighting politically as well as industrially. He said we are all part of a society and that politicians make decisions that impact on our lives, so we should have something to say about those things as well.

Several motions reflected on the small size of the conference (only nine delegates) and resolved to improve young members’ organisation. The conference voted for a renewed campaign to encourage young member reps and activists, and, in another motion, for a young members organising strategy. Noting the mass exploitation of young workers in low-paid, casualised ‘McJobs’, we voted to actively recruit amongst low-paid agency workers in our industries. The Norwegian oil workers union have employed a young members’ organiser, and built their young members' conferences to over 100 in size. Their example inspired our conference to vote for staff within the RMT to help us achieve similar success here. The Organising Unit joined us for the afternoon, and scheduled a day in late April where we can do some training and go out recruiting, putting our ideas for organising into practice.

The conference also agreed issues for the coming year’s campaigns. We condemned the government’s increased ‘stop and search’ proposals, and called to campaign for youth rights and positive solutions to problems faced by young working-class people. Another motion called for the union to campaign for affordable, and social, housing for people not on the property ladder.

One motion from the young members' conference is allowed to go forward to the AGM. Sadly, due to a ruling that emergency motions could not go forward, only one motion was eligible - a motion to separate the process of electing TUC youth forum delegates from deciding the RMT young member of the year.

The run-up to the conference had been plagued by what was described as a ‘breakdown of communications’ between the head office and the young members. Motions from last year’s young members' conference had not reached the AGM, and this year’s conference venue was changed from Lille to London at the last minute, without informing the young members' liaison committee. Several motions reflected the strong feeling about this, including one to de-select the general secretary! The motion fell, but hopefully the anger displayed will prevent further disregard of young members in future.

With a group of people determined to build young members organising and campaigning, there is reason to be optimistic that young members will be harder to ignore in future.