01.06.1995

Railworkers - Prepare for action!

More and more workers are saying, ‘Enough is enough’. They want to put a stop to job losses, wage cuts and worse conditions. But we need much more than enthusiasm to win these battles

IN A WELCOME move towards a co-ordinated fightback, both RMT and Aslef, the two main rail unions, decided to ballot their members on strike action last week.

British Rail has offered a three percent increase in pay in response to the unions’ claim for double that figure. Both unions have been mandated by their annual conferences to insist on an above-inflation settlement and will be co-ordinating their strikes over the summer to make sure they get it.

Management has been forced to up its original offers, but is now adamant that it will go no further. Lying behind this stubbornness are government plans to ensure a highly profitable train network in the run-up to privatisation. Speculators are eyeing up the most lucrative sections, and top managers are licking their lips at the thought of becoming overnight millionaires through share option legal theft - just like their fellow robber barons in other privatised industries.

Their drive for profit will be at the expense of our jobs, our wages and our conditions. To make sure they get their way, the government has armed itself with a whole array of anti-union laws, not to mention the ever looming threat of unemployment.

But whole sections of the working class are now starting to regain confidence. Health-workers, teachers, bank and Rolls Royce workers are among those who have been determined to hold out. Co-ordinated action by railworkers will surely give encouragement to them.

A Manchester Aslef militant told us:

“Drivers are sick and tired of being poorly paid; being told they are professionals, but getting amateur pay. Any industrial action on the railways will blow a very large hole through the government’s privatisation plans.

“We need to set up joint meetings of both unions to form local strike committees.”

Already there are signs that this is happening in several areas. It is essential, if railworkers are to ensure they win their very modest claim in full. Jimmy Knapp, the RMT’s general secretary, has stated that the “recognised point of reference” in the industry is February’s inflation rate, which stood at 3.4%. This implies that BR has only to offer an extra half percent for the union leaders to recommend acceptance.

To develop to the full our ability not only to resist the bosses’ attacks, but to start to advance towards what we need, workers must look to much better forms of organisation. We need to cut across sectional and local interests. We need to arm ourselves with one united union for each industry and with the vision of an alternative society based on need, not profit.

Above all we need to build the only force capable of leading the whole class towards that vision - the Communist Party.