RMT militant under attack
Since the death of Bob Crow in 2014, Senior Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley is to many people the main face of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). A life-long socialist, trade unionist, an anti-racist and a fighter against fascism, he constantly puts himself on the line on behalf of his class. But the RMT is now in the grips of a dispute in which a right-wing faction is on a mission to get rid of Steve.
The Sun and the Daily Mail found some irreverent posts that Steve made on his personal Facebook page referring to the Prime Minister’s illness and embarked on a campaign against him. Steve now says ‘I regret putting up anything on my Facebook page that allowed our enemies to attack us and divert from the real issue of approximately 40,000 deaths, including dozens of transport workers, because of government incompetence and the failure to provide adequate PPE and ventilators.’
Having received a number of complaints about the original comments, the General Secretary wrote to Steve on 9 April instructing him to take down the comments and give an undertaking to comply with social media protocols. The deadline for both was 15 April and Steve had every intention of complying. However, following a social media frenzy orchestrated by The Sun and the Mail, the union leadership issued a press release designed to appease the right-wing media.
On 10 April, Good Friday Bank Holiday, the General Secretary and President convened an extraordinary meeting of the NEC, which Steve was neither invited to nor informed about. At this meeting it was decided by a majority to suspend Steve pending investigation. Steve was then instructed in writing that he ‘should not contact any of the organisation’s members or your work colleagues’. This is an outrageous instruction which, if given by the employer of an RMT member, would rightly and successfully be challenged.
On 29 May there was a disciplinary hearing, and Steve is waiting for the outcome. Comrades and supporters within the union have been organising to submit emergency resolutions to the forthcoming AGM, condemning the way this has been handled by the NEC, and pointing out that the RMT is supposed to be a democratic organisation which chooses its own leaders and does not allow the right wing media to choose them for it.
The right-wing media has attacked the RMT many times before and this is not the first time it has gone for Steve, but the question is why officials of the union have paid attention to these attacks and are prepared to offer up Steve’s head on a platter. It is no coincidence that this is happening both as the Labour Party lurches rightwards under the leadership of Keir Starmer, as the government has transport unions in its sights and as Steve’s post comes up for re-election in 2022.
GRACE PLUNKETT
London
Free Basque political prisoners!
Currently around 200 Basque political prisoners are dispersed throughout Spain and France, hundreds of miles from their relatives, contrary to model prison rules of both the EU and the UN.
In 2012 the political leadership of the Abertzale (pro-independence) Left abandoned the armed struggle and opted for a peace process with the Spanish ruling class. It instructed prisoners to negotiate individually, but a handful have denounced this breakup of prisoner unity.
From 5 May prisoners have demanded they be issued with protective clothing and that they and their guards should be tested for coronavirus. One of them, Patxi Ruiz, was beaten and abused, as a result of which he went on an 11-day hunger and thirst strike on 11 May. Although now taking water, he is still on hunger strike (as of 30 May). He is also demanding that prisoners be located near their families, be allowed family visits and be permitted to attend funerals of loved ones (Patxi was not permitted to attend his father’s funeral).
Despite condemnation by the official leadership, marches in solidarity with Patxi Ruiz have taken place in every Basque city, along with pickets and solidarity fasts in towns and villages. On 24 May police used batons and rubber bullets to attack picketers in Pamplona/Irunea.
Send letters of solidarity to:
Patxi Ruiz Romero,
Centro Penitenciario Murcia II
Paraje los Charcos,
30.191, Campos Del Río (Murcia),
Spain
We have been holding solidarity pickets in Dublin and Derry.
DIARMUID BREATNACH
Dublin
Prison is an insult
Many thanks for your most recent publication. Your organisation has supported prisoners such as myself for many years and your publication has been the most informative writing that I have had the privilege to read. I’m embarrassed at the degree of my naivety, years spent in blindness. But I have always had a thirst for knowledge and whilst I still struggle with some of the economics discussions, the wider message has always made an impression. One thing is for certain, I intend to attend some of your meetings, keen as I am to watch some of your films and documentaries. But, above all else, there remains in myself a deep and searing sadness that, despite the wealth of human intelligence within our diverse societies, our greatest produce appears to be exploitation and subjugation.
Take the case of John Bowden. Despite our similar sentences, he remained in prison for some 40 years, and I can only imagine the deeply damaging effects of such an experience. I have now served 17 years myself and I can honestly say that this environment is an insult to anyone with any shred of intelligence or humanity. It would have been blatantly obvious many years past that John Bowden was safe to be released but then that was not the state’s intention. Instead, those people in power were more intent on crushing the spirit they saw in him. My heart goes out to John and I pray he retains his liberty!
HERPAL NIJJER A1888AK
HMP Northumberland
Morpeth NE65 9XT
Capitalism: a cause of dread
A person is worth the same price as a corpse if they are unable to work. Whatever their ailment, guilt and shame writhe restlessly in them until they themselves believe they are worthless. Your job, the university you go to, down to the university course you study is the sum of your value under capitalism. A look towards your own needs, especially mentally, is attributed to your own weakness and despite the lack of logic in that, we are still depressed if we can’t work as much during lockdown.
In a society with individualism at the core, any failure to live up to capitalist ideals is seen as the failure of the human being, no one else. Every person is pushed forward in their study as a child, study as an adult and to their career from a fear of alienation. A lack of productive growth due to ill health removes you from a capitalist society. If a business does not increase its revenue over time, then it is a failing business. This principle echoes on a micro scale also, in people. A growing feeling of inadequacy and comparison continuously festers throughout the population, as the value of human life is determined by your income.
AMEER JAY
SNP blood on its hands
Scotland recorded its first coronavirus death on 13 March. The day before, the Scottish Government, along with the other ‘home nations’ of the UK, abandoned the ‘contact tracing’ approach of testing every suspected case which was contrary to the WHO’s advice to test, trace and isolate. The virus was allowed to continue ripping through our communities and care homes.
46% of the 3,456 deaths from Covid-19 registered by National Records of Scotland have happened in care homes. As of 19 May, the Scottish Government recorded seven deaths of healthcare workers and nine of social care workers. Professor of Public Heath Allyson Pollock has spoken out against this ‘appalling’ and ‘shameful situation’ highlighting the overall crisis of adult social care in Scotland with the majority (59%) of all care homes in Scotland run privately for profit. Care workers, and the elderly in their care, have long been thrown to the wolves and this Covid-19 crisis is exposing this again with lack of PPE, testing and sick pay protection for those on the front line.
This crisis is demonstrating more clearly than ever that the working-class struggle for social justice and socialism in Scotland is one that will have to confront capitalism and that means confronting the SNP and all its ruling class political rivals.
DOMINIC AND RUBY
Glasgow
Say NO to billionaire Branson’s £500m state bailout!
In this global health and economic crisis, record numbers of people are being forced to sign up for Universal Credit.
Part of the application involves means testing – a humiliating and invasive process, where every spare pound coin has to be declared.
It is high time we introduced the same process for tax-dodging corporations, such as Virgin Atlantic. Its owner, Richard Branson, is demanding £500m of money from the state, to prop up his loss-making airline. As the company rents, rather than owns most of his fleet, he is effectively asking for an unsecured loan. And if he fails, we pay the debt.
But why should we bail out the very same Branson who tried to sue the NHS for £80m? From the comfort of his very own private island?
Why not ask the billionaire boss to free up some of his own capital?
Better still, let’s examine his offshore reserves; a small drop in the ocean of stashed away cash that amounts to trillions of dollars.
It’s high time we replaced this system of socialism for the rich with financial transparency!
ROSE
East London
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 276 June/July 2020
