Crowy, his militant friends and their strike agenda

• Published in: Sunday telegraph (London, England)
• Main Author: GILLIGAN ON SUNDAY
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Daily Telegraph 04.04.2010
• Subjects: Crow, Bob
• ISSN: 0307-269X

So does Bob Crow, the RMT's famously pugnacious leader, actually want a Tory government? We'll know for certain when he announces his strike dates -- but the answer is quite possibly "yes". He certainly thinks New Labour very little different from the Tories, breaking his union's link with Labour six years ago and describing both parties as "the same under their suits". He added recently: "We used to batten down the hatches before an election. But, because Labour have not done anything for us, if something happens right up to polling day we are going to look after our members." "A crucial ingredient of the RMT's organising approach has been the explicit rejection of social partnership in favour of union militancy," says Prof [Ralph Darlington]. "Indeed, in many respects RMT's 'brand image' is essentially that of being a striking union." The remarkable thing about this statement is that it actually appears in a proud article in the latest edition of the RMT's own official journal, RMT News. The union is currently running at least six disputes involving actual or proposed industrial action -- involving ScotRail train crew, Virgin West Coast ticket staff, South Wales signallers and London Underground drivers in addition to the UK-wide Network Rail maintenance staff and signaller disputes that got the headlines last week. The atmosphere in the corridors of RMT headquarters is blokeish, with the executive and officers addressing each other like members of a Sunday football team. Yet though "Crowy" and his squad can be physically intimidating (they're "like Goodfellas", says one person who has dealt with them), they are also quite with-it. The RMT's latest wheeze is to start its own social networking site, "RMT Junction," a kind of MyStrike for the industrially militant, with the chance to win an iPod for every member who signs up.