Diary of an RMT Rep: a simple story of everyday activism

Submitted by AWL on 9 January, 2006 - 9:41

Friday 30th December 2005.

As the year was drawing to a close and the likelihood of a settlement to the dispute with London Underground had been extinguished, I thought it would be prudent to sort out some sort of positive action for New Year’s Eve. Spent the day frantically trying to get hold of branch officials and Functional reps (full-time negotiating reps for our grades), but my branch officials were on holiday and Functional reps were not answering their phones.
Managed to get hold of my Branch Secretary and arranged to meet with the industrial rep of a neighbouring group to participate in a leaflet distribution event up in Central London on Saturday. It was good to be doing something.

Saturday 31st December 2005. Strike Day Part 1.

Up at 6.30am for leaflet campaign and, after meeting at Harrow with a fellow rep and others, head down to London. Receive a garbled phone call from a Functional rep whilst we’re passing through King’s Cross Tube Station. Unable to make out the message, we continue onto Holborn and the Station Functional Council Offices. The meeting time of 09.30 passes and after several and sometimes fruitless phone calls it transpires that RMT communication had broken down again and the message we had been given was out of date and was for the previous Thursday.
Return home disconsolately and disillusioned, frustrated at lack of positive action and seemingly unable to do anything useful for the cause. Spend New Year’s Eve at home quietly and venting my spleen with text messages and blogs.

Sunday 1st January 2006. Strike Day Part 2.

Wake up and spend the day quietly checking the outcome of the dispute and dismayed by the negative portrayal we have been given in our “objective” media. The media and the management spin doctors are in overdrive playing down the effects of the strike, and RMT is busily refuting this with counter claims. It is very difficult not to be disheartened and feel let down by the union hierarchy and the apparent lack of co-ordination in organising an effective campaign. Unity House closed, nobody about and the media having a field day and our General Secretary on holiday in Egypt. How are we supposed to feel?

Monday 2nd January. The Fallout.

Return to work to hear stories of members scabbing, even doing overtime and alleged safety breaches. Heartbreaking to hear and painful to work with so-called colleagues who I thought better of.

Lick my wounds, aim to be more positive and start making plans for the eventuality of the next round of the dispute.

Tuesday 3rd January. Start of the fight back.

Attend a strike de-brief meeting at Unity House and hear further horror stories of safety breaches and scabbing. I make my own report of what went on and explained the feelings of my members. Despite the tales of woe there are also positive stories of effective striking and union solidarity. Return to my stations feeling a lot more positive and empowered and, together with my Industrial Rep, plan a strategy for the strike.

Wednesday 4th January. A Faux Pax.

Construct a letter (together with my Industrial Rep) regarding the strike, but, due to a choice of poor wording, manage to upset some of the membership on our Group (of stations). Still, it is a learning process and it is not surprising that the offended members are the ones who either came into work or did overtime during the strike. Sadly lose some members, but only ones with no stomach for a fight. Manage to recruit some members from the some of the Station Assistants, so it is not all bad.

Thursday 5th January. A difficult day.

Up early to combine my preliminary day (a day released from work to discuss safety concerns with union members) with the TSSA Health & Safety Rep and to go round the group to speak to members. My relations with TSSA rep are strained because he did overtime and his own shift, totalling 20 hours over New Year.

Lose my Industrial Rep due to a family bereavement, issue an apology for the poorly-worded letter that was sent out and speak to offended union members. Get in touch with the Industrial Rep from the next Group and organise picketing for the upcoming strike action.

Friday 6th January. A quiet day?

A quiet day of organising with my fellow RMT rep from the neighbouring Group. Have arranged a trip to Unity House to pick up some more literature and strike material. Looking forward to a busy weekend!

Saturday 7th January. A day of travelling.

A very productive trip to Unity House. Pick up strike material and the helpful staff on duty print up copies of a leaflet made up by a Northern Line rep friend of mine. In the absence of a leaflet for the public explaining the situation from Head Office, we have to improvise and do our own thing. Carelessly leave a few of these leaflets over the Underground on our return to our respective Groups.

Spend the afternoon going round my Group with the help of my long suffering partner delivering literature and talking to members.

Sunday 8th January. A busy day.

Finalise the arrangements for picketing with the neighbouring Group’s rep.

Sign up a new member who called me and wanted to join so drive over to meet them. Meet up at Harrow in the evening for a short picket and managed to dissuade a signal operator from booking on and crossing our picket line.

Reports of 7 stations on my Group are unstaffed and a combination of scabs and management will be locking them up. Four stations in a row are closed and trains are still running through! Union Head Office are informed. Drive round in the early hours checking on how secure the stations actually are and find some haven’t been locked up properly.
Home to bed for 2 hours sleep before getting up for early picketing at Rickmansworth station.

Monday 9th January. Another busy day.

Meet up at Rickmansworth station at 4.30am for picketing. However, we soon re-deploy ourselves to Harrow and Rayners Lane Stations for a more effective picket. Spend the rest of the morning leafleting and picketing. Despite what the media are broadcasting, the strike has had an effect on the service and the rush hour has been a lot quieter than normal.

Finish picket early and celebrate our good work with a well-earned breakfast. The response we received from the public was positive and very few negative comments.

Went home for a well-earned rest and to keep up to date with the latest news.

Overall a very positive experience and a big thank you to my fellow rep who did a lot of the organising and helped me on the road to being a better activist.

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