Socialist Party Wales Socialism In Wales
By Ross Saunders
Train fleet maintenance workers in the RMT union are celebrating in South Wales after scoring what looks like a complete victory without having to fire a shot.
With a turnout of 80%, 98% of members voted in favour of strike action, sending an unignorable message to franchise-holder Transport for Wales Rail Services (TfW RS) that worker would hit the company in the profits unless it acceded to the union’s demands.
TfW RS – a trading name for giant corporations Keolis and Amey – capitulated immediately. Workers will no longer be outsourced to contracting firms, including notorious anti-union Spanish firm Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarilles (CAF), and their pay, terms, conditions and pensions will receive the same protection as workers in the stations and on the trains in the franchise as direct employees of TfW RS.
The action shows that with the right tactics, carefully identifying the issues about which the members feel most strongly, it is possible to defeat the Tory anti-union laws. It has boosted the confidence of workers in workplaces far removed from the railways and raised their sights as to what is possible if bold action is organised.
RMT Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley explained, “We fought the Welsh Assembly which wanted to outsource our workers despite saying we’d bring them all in house. We’ve won that battle. And if trade unions get united – there’s six million of us and we can pull a lot more people with us – We can defeat all the attacks we face. We can renationalise every service in this country. We can make this a socialist country.”
