Steve Hedley for RMT Regional Organiser

Posted in Tubeworker's blog on ,

Tubeworker is backing Steve Hedley in the election for RMT Regional Organiser. Here, we interview him about the key issues in the election ...

Q. What is the role of Regional Organiser that you are standing for?

A. Our region – the London Transport region of the RMT - covers everybody that was once employed by 'London Transport'. The organiser for our region should set up organisations of workers in the region to strengthen the union. The Regional Organiser conducts talks over pay and conditions and does high level disciplinaries. But if I take on this job people should vote for me on the basis that it is fundamentally an organising role. Level one or two reps should be supported in doing disciplinaries. But the role is to build the RMT as a formidable fighting force in the region.

If people think that good wage deals are won because someone presents a clever argument with management in a meeting, I challenge that person to do that now. Wage negotiations are a reflection of the balance of forces on the ground. If a union's strong, well-organised and militant, a better pay rise and better conditions are more likely. If numerically weak, disorganised and passive, I would like to see a case study where a clever negotiator has gained decent conditions for workers.

Q. The RMT in London is facing a big political and industrial fight with a Tory mayor and a potential Tory government intent on breaking the union and imposing pay cuts as the recession bites. What are the RMT's key tasks to prepare for and win this fight?

A. We need an industrial strategy in the short, medium and long term and we need a political strategy in parallel to it. We need to build up locally, regionally and nationally all-grades committees to co-ordinate effective action. These would be local committees of reps that meet to discuss strategy, but not official bodies. They would meet regularly, whether there was a dispute or not. Currently, the union is very reactive; we've got to build a position where we're going on the offensive. At the minute these committees will be defensive but they should have an inherent offensive capacity.

Q. The RMT makes much of being a union that organises all grades in the industry. What would you do to bring about effective solidarity between grades so that even the most vulnerable workers win?

A. We are the only all-grades union on the railway. But too often recently we've acted like a single grades union, where each grade only wants to fight for itself - and there are many grades organised by the RMT. This is a result of the anti-union laws, which prevent workers in different companies taking action to support each other. The laws were part of capital's deliberate, thought-out process of sewing division between workers. In addition to the all-grades committees mentioned above, and cross-grades meetings that all local and full time reps would be expected to attend, our task is to rebuild working class consciousness, not just as a grade or as a union but as a class.

Q. The RMT is no longer affiliated to the Labour Party. The New Labour project has left a gaping hole in working class democracy. What should the RMT in London concretely do to build working class political representation?

A. RMT policy is that the region should identify candidates that are worthy of working class support in elections. We need to implement this vigorously in the region. We should have a list of demands that are a minimum platform for anyone we would agree to support. As a union, we need to develop working class politicians. Now, politicians are an elite; politics is almost entirely a middle class or upper middle class occupation, whereas years ago train drivers would become politicians.

Q. Although the RMT has a lot of members in London, the number of members who are active in their workplace or attend their local branches is quite small. What would you do to build a culture of active involvement in the RMT, where every member feels a part?

A. We need to start by analysing where we are – all RMT members are not getting the same representation. This unofficial hierarchy needs to be broken down. Active involvement needs to be facilitated. Take the young members, for example. If people aren't going to branches, we need to go to workplaces to build the union. We need to have a two-way discussion, rather than reps turning up and delivering a speech and disappearing. We need to turn up and ask what would get people involved in the union – like the young members have been doing.

Q. How do you think the democratic decision-making process should work in the RMT?

A. I have a bottom-up philosophy. The leadership and reps cannot just reflect the opinion of members. They must be educational and opinion-formers. The union must engender the highest level of debate. But when a decision is voted upon, the union must accept the members' democratic right to decide their own fate and stand by that decision. It is a problem when the leadership decides on strategies without consulting the members.

Q. Within the union, there is sometimes a dismissive attitude to women's campaigns, LGBT campaigns, etc. In your view, how do these campaigns for minority and oppressed groups relate to building a strong union?

A. The major oppression in our society is economic oppression of the working class but we can't ignore that within the working class some groups are oppressed. In the rail industry women are on 70% of men's salaries. Non-whites suffer discrimination. LGBT people suffer harassment at work. Any call for equality is subversive because it is an impossible demand that the system we live under cannot fulfil. If all our campaigns can keep a class perspective then they're well worth supporting and should be encouraged.

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