The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (commonly known as the RMT) is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is Alex Gordon and its current General Secretary is Mick Lynch. The RMT is one of Britain's fastest growing trade unions. Membership rose under and following the leadership of

Bob Crow Robert Crow (13 June 196111 March 2014) was an English trade union leader who served as the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from 2002 until his death in 2014. He was also a member of the Gen ...

, increasing from 57,000 in 2002 to almost 81,500 in 2019.

History

The RMT was formed in 1990 through a merger of the

National Union of Railwaymen The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. The largest railway workers' union in the country, it was influential in the national trade union movement. History The NUR was an industrial union ...

(NUR) and the

National Union of Seamen The National Union of Seamen (NUS) was the principal trade union of merchant seafarers in the United Kingdom from the late 1880s to 1990. In 1990, the union amalgamated with the National Union of Railwaymen to form the National Union of Rail ...

(NUS) to create a single transport industry trade union.

Political activity

The predecessor unions to the National Union of Railwaymen and the National Union of Seamen were founding members of the original Labour Representation Committee and after its creation the RMT became a prominent voice on the left of the Labour Party. In 2003 some Scottish branches of the RMT voted to donate some of their funds to the

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland. The party was founded in 1998. It c ...

(SSP) in protest against the policies of

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

and

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

, such as not renationalising the railways. This led the Labour Party to expel the union in early 2004 for breaching its rules. The RMT announced in 2009 that it would be standing a slate of candidates in the 2009 European Parliament elections under the banner of

No to EU – Yes to Democracy No2EU is a left-wing Eurosceptic electoral alliance in the United Kingdom. It was first founded in 2009 when it campaigned under the campaign slogan ''No2EU — Yes to Democracy''; it was led by Bob Crow and backed by the National Union of Rail ...

, a broad left-wing

alter-globalisation Alter-globalization (also known as alternative globalization or alter-mundialization—from the French alter- mondialisation—and overlapping with the global justice movement) is a social movement whose proponents support global cooperation and ...

coalition which aims to offer an alternative to the "anti-foreigner" and pro-business policies of the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

. The RMT then became a founding member of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), a left wing political party which has contested the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

general elections. The RMT was in favour of the UK's withdrawal from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

in the 2016 referendum on the subject. However, RMT members Sean Hoyle, Peter Pinkney, Paul McDonnell and John Reid signed a letter in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', voicing their opposition to the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

choosing

Leave.EU Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, June 2016 referendum. Founded in July 2015 as ...

Vote Leave Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leavi ...

or Grassroots Out as the official group advocating for British withdrawal in the referendum, saying that:

We call on the commission not to give taxpayers' money to the Tory and
Ukip The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...
-dominated Vote Leave, Leave.EU or Grassroots Out campaigns, or any amalgam of them ... We believe there are millions of trade unionists, young people, anti-austerity campaigners and working-class voters, whose opposition to the big business-dominated EU would not be represented by these organisations. ... We call on the Electoral Commission to recognise that a significant proportion of those who will vote against the EU do so because they support basic socialist policies of workers' rights, public ownership, and opposition to austerity and racism.

In July 2015, the RMT endorsed

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

in the Labour Party leadership election.

London Underground

The RMT represents most

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

staff, as well as many other workers in the London public transport network. The RMT has had a number of disputes with Transport for London and private sector contractors

Metronet Metronet may refer to: *Metronet (British infrastructure company), who maintained London Underground infrastructure between 2003 and 2008. *Metronet (Western Australia), government agency formed in 2017, responsible for managing extensions to Perth ...

and

Tube Lines Tube Lines Limited, initially known as 'Infraco JNP' (an amalgamation of infrastructure and company), is an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, ci ...

over pay, safety, pensions and job security on the Underground. These disputes have often resulted in industrial action, leading to periods of travel disruption in the capital over the last decade.

2022 strike

In May 2022, the union began balloting 40,000 members on a strike action that might be joined by the

Transport Salaried Staffs' Association The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) is a trade union for workers in the transport and travel industries in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Its head office is in London, and it has regional offices in Bristol, Derby, Dublin, Manche ...

(TSSA). Both managers and operators would be affected. Rail insiders have accused the union leaders of balloting prematurely without negotiation. Of primary concern to the unions were the upcoming job cuts at

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

and a demand for pay rises to offset the cost of living. Coming out of the pandemic, fewer passengers are currently using railways, however. Rail minister

Wendy Morton Wendy Morton (born 9 November 1967) is a British politician who served as Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from September to October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member ...

and rail companies have emphasised the need to modernise the sector and reduce its cost base. Union members backed industrial action overwhelmingly, and 24-hour strikes were scheduled for June 21, 23 and 25. Both the RMT and the TSSA warned of a level of disruption not experienced since the 1926 General Strike. Rail companies began drawing up plans to prioritise freight delivery over passenger services in order to keep supermarkets stocked.

Affiliations

The RMT is affiliated to a number of political organisations and trade union confederations. In the United Kingdom and Ireland the RMT is affiliated with the TUC, the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the National trade union center, national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation ...

, the Wales Trades Union Congress and the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union centr ...

. Internationally the RMT is affiliated to the European Transport Workers Federation and the

International Transport Workers Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership o ...

, as well as the

World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade unions established in 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the International Federation of ...

. Politically the RMT is affiliated with the left wing political party the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), which it co-founded and encourages members to participate in. The RMT is also affiliated to the Labour Representation Committee, a pressure group which aims to promote traditional socialist principles within the Labour Party. Some local branches of the RMT, such as

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

, are affiliated to their local

Constituency Labour Party __NOTOC__ A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituenc ...

. Numerous RMT members, including its president Alex Gordon, secretary Eddie Dempsey and local activist Brendan Kelly have been vocal supporters of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

, and applauded Russian actions in war in Syria and

war in Ukraine The following is a list of major conflicts fought by Ukraine, by Ukrainian people or by regular armies during periods when independent states existed on the modern territory of Ukraine, from the Kyivan Rus' times to the present day. It also i ...

. Dempsey has visited Russian-occupied Donbass and met pro-Russian field commanders there in 2015.

RMT Credit Union

RMT Credit Union Limited is a savings and loans

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

established by the trade union for its members in 2004. It is a member of UKCreditUnions Limited, a national trade association representing smaller

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including depo ...

s, steering groups and support organisations. The credit union is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...

and the PRA. Ultimately, like the banks and building societies, members' savings are protected against

business failure __NOTOC__ Business failure refers to a company ceasing operations following its inability to make a profit or to bring in enough revenue to cover its expenses. A profitable business can fail if it does not generate adequate cash flow to mee ...

by the

Financial Services Compensation Scheme The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is the UK's statutory deposit insurance and investors compensation scheme for customers of authorised financial services firms. This means that FSCS can pay compensation if a firm is unable, or l ...

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1990:

Jimmy Knapp James Knapp (29 September 1940 – 13 August 2001) was a British trades unionist. He was successively General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) from 1983, and then of the merged National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transpor ...

:2001:

:2014:

Mick Cash Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broade ...

:2021: Mick Lynch

Senior Assistant General Secretaries

:1990: Andy Dodds :1991: Wilf Proudfoot :1994: Vernon Hince :2002:

:2014: Steve Hedley :2021: Eddie Dempsey

Presidents

:1990: John Cogger :1993: Don Loughlin :1996: John Cogger :1999: Phil Boston :2002: John Cogger :2004: Tony Donaghey :2007: John Leach :2010: Alex Gordon :2013: Peter Pinkney :2016: Sean Hoyle :2019: Michelle Rodgers :2022: Alex Gordon

References

External links

RMT websiteThe Marine Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Union of Rail, Maritime And Transport Workers 1990 establishments in the United Kingdom International Transport Workers' Federation Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden Transport trade unions in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1990 Trade unions in the United Kingdom Credit unions of the United Kingdom Trade unions based in London Trade unions affiliated with the Trades Union Congress