TUC INTERNAL BRIEFING

LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS IN THE RMT - Briefing November 2001

The current position

During the next few months the RMT Is facing its biggest challenge for a

generation-.The challenge comes from the extreme left for the most

senior jobs in the union. Ballot papers will be out elect a new general

secretary at the end of the year. If the extreme left assistant general

secretary, Bob Crow, wins there will be two vacancies for assistant general

secretaries. The second vacancy will occur following the recently

announced retirement of Vernon Hince. The extreme left are now

seeking a candidate from outside London for the Vernon Hince vacancy.

They are also banking on Bob Crow winning the general secretary

election to promote someone else for his vacancy. The extreme left

already hold the union presidency (although the incumbent is facing a

challenge from the traditional left). But there Is a real prospect that left

wing fundamentalists could hold the top four Jobs by the middle of next

year.

Such an outcome could result in the biggest changes within the union for

a generation and be long-lasting and deep. Those on the extreme left

who are challenging for the top posts are expected to Include people

who contested the respected former general secretary. Jimmy Knapp, in

1999 and campaigned against his leadership up to his death earlier this

year.

The general secretary election

Nomination forms are out now for the general secretaryship, they have to

be returned in early December, and ballot papers go out at the end of

the month. The result will be known in mid February. The position is

being hard fought between three candidates: Bob Crow, currently an

assistant general secretary; Phil Bialyk, the South West regional organiser;

and Ray Spry-Shute, the national education officer.

Bob Crow, a paid official of the union for some 10 years, has a long

record of activity on the extreme left. He was formerly a member of the

Communist Party and served on its executive committee. He left the party

to join Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party and served on its leading

bodies. More recently he has associated himself with the Trotskyist fringe

and backed the Socialist Alliance in the last general election. He was a

keynote speaker at the Socialist Workers' Party's (5WP) "Marxism 2001"

event last July.

Crow has never shown any inclination to associate positively with the

Labour government He has personally advocated ending the RMTs link

with Labour. In an interview in the SWP's Socialist Review just before the

general election (May 2001) he said: "Labour actually embraces the free

market, ft wants private enterprise because it is now a party driven by

private enterprise. It shares the Interests of the privateers now... The

RMT's affiliation to the Labour Party is a union decision, and we'll respect

that decision. Personally, {believe that we're giving money to people who

are not fighting as hard as they should be on behalf of working people,

who are unrepresented in Britain."

Crow's uncompromising attitude towards the Labour Party has been

reflect in his attitude towards the employers " he has been associated

with around 30 strikes in his 10 years in office. Subtle negotiation, @

leadership and diplomacy have never been part of his working methods.

He favours a return to the 1970s, and believes that strike action raises the

class-consciousness of the rank-and-file. This approach makes him a

popular choice for the extremists.

Crow's main challenger, Phil Bialyk. is a long-standing Labour Party

member who comes from the modernising left in the Party and union.

Bialyk fears that the RMT could become a narrow and internalised ultra-

left group that ignores the needs of passengers and the national interest.

The fate of the union following such a direction could be for the

organisation to lose public sympathy, be ignored by employers and

ministers alike, or worse break up. Bialyk therefore promotes a strategy

that does not shirk being critical of the Government, but seeks active

engagement with it to advance a radical agenda for transport workers.

He points to the effective renationalisation of Railtrack as an example of

how the Government can be won to change its position, particularly after

11 September. He recognises the possibility of a third term Labour

government, which could be in office until at least 2009. This means a

strategy of head-on confrontation, or splitting with Labour, would

undermine the interests of transport workers.

The extreme left's battle for the RMT

RMT faced a similar challenge for its top jobs three years ago. This was

organised by Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party (SLP). Scargill's

ultimate strategy was to amalgamate the two principle rail unions (train

drivers ASLEF and RMT) with his National Union of Mineworkers. Such a

merger would have created a powerful industrial force that could have

called strikes and possibly brought down the Blair government. This

would have been a rerun of what Scargill hoped to do against Margaret

Thatcher through the miners7 strike in 1984/85. The move was narrowly

defeated, but an extreme left wing take over of the RMT could revive

such fears again.

The extreme left have been vigorously opposed over the years by Jimmy

Knapp; his deputy Vernon Hince; John Cogger, currently campaigning for

the presidency of the union; Phil Bialyk, current general secretary

candidate; and Mick Cash, who stood against Crow two years ago and

nearly beat him. and is now a candidate to be an assistant general

secretary.

Apart from Bob Crow the extreme left candidates are Phil Boston (for the

presidency and other possibilities are: first name McGarry from Scotland;

Greg Tucker, who stood against Jimmy Knapp in' 1999; Pat Sikorski.

known as "the General", from London Underground; and Alee Gordon

from Bristol.

Direction of the union

Cogger, &Bialyk and Cash have strong links with the modernising left of

the RMT. The union has been on the left of the trade union and labour

movement for two decades - a position generally supported by the

membership- The union has been a major player in both the TUC and

Labour Party since world war two. However, since Jimmy Knapp's demise

the union's seat has been lost on the TUC General Council, and after

Vernon Hince goes the union is unlikely to be represented on Labour's

National Executive. The RMT's influence and credibility is already in

decline among government ministers and civil servants. Relationships

with employers are almost entirely hostile. And public support and

sympathy is plummeting as rail workers are seen as strike-happy union

dinosaurs. If an extreme left team are elected at the top of the union

now the result will be more chaos on the railways. And with the age

profile of most candidates being m their early forties whoever wins could

be around for up to 20 years. In this case the RMT could be marginalised,

become irrelevant, and end up like Scargill's NUM.

The modernising left represents different direction. They are seeking to

redirect the union to concentrate on members' priorities and reduce the

influence of any internal political faction. Though aiming to modernise,

this group sees Itself as the heirs of former leaders, like Knapp, and have

traditional links -they are radical, tough and militant, but pragmatic.

They seek to influence change from within and place great store in

Labour Party and TUC. Such an approach is in direct contrast to those

around Bob Crow. These people reject compromise as betrayal and selling

out the members, while at the same time opposing what they sneeringly

refer to as the parliamentary road to change. Other transport unions such

as the TSSA. ASLEF, and T&G would also suffer from the effects of a

political move to the far left In the RMT. However, they might also

welcome the prospects of picking up many members from the fallout of

such a political break in the RMT.

The main source of industrial unrest in Britain over recent years has been

on the railways and ?n the post office. Already the left have made gains in

the main post office union the CWU. In addition an unreconstructed

Trotskyist, Mark Serwotka, has become general secretary elect of the

rnain civil service union the PCS, and is organising strikes in the Benefits

Agency. Therefore the direction of union's in these industries could spell

trouble for the government.