Peter Pinkney (born 1956) is a British

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

, who served as President of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from December 2012 until 2015. Born in

Saltburn Saltburn-by-the-Sea, commonly referred to as Saltburn, is a seaside town in Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England, around south-east of Hartlepool and southeast of Redcar. It lies within the historic boundaries of the North Rid ...

, Pinkney completed an apprenticeship as a welder and joined the

Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers The Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Workers (ASB) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. Many of its members worked in shipbuilding, in which industry it was the leading trade union, while over tim ...

. He found employment at a steelworks in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, and became a junior shop steward. However, when the works closed in 1978, he was unable to find a new job in the industry and instead joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, serving as a submariner. Following a five-year stint in the Navy, Pinkney studied at a polytechnic, and joined the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

. He found work as a railway signalman, working in the world's oldest signal box, in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

. He also joined the National Union of Railwaymen, which later became part of the RMT. Pinkney became first a union representative, then branch secretary and regional secretary. Pinkney's union involvement further increased following the election 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 ...

as general secretary, and culminated with Pinkney's election as president in 2012; the highest lay official of the union. As President, Pinkney pledged that the RMT "will fight for the abolition of capitalism and replace it with a socialist system". During Pinkney's time as president, Crow died unexpectedly, and Pinkney took his place on the General Council of the Trades Union Congress. In February 2015, Pinkney confirmed that he would be standing as a

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

candidate in

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

in the 2015 general election. In the election he came fifth with 2.2% of the vote. In February 2016, Pinkney 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 ...

'' alongside Sean Hoyle, Paul McDonnell and John Reid from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), in which they voiced 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, Vote Leave or

Grassroots Out Grassroots Out (GO) was an organisation funded by Arron Banks that campaigned in favour of EU withdrawal in the 2016 referendum on EU membership in the United Kingdom. The organisation was formed in January 2016, as a result of infighting bet ...

as the official group advocating for 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. The letter said that:

We call on the commission not to give taxpayers' money to the Tory and Ukip-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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinkney, Peter 1956 births Living people British trade unionists English socialists Communist Party of Great Britain members Green Party of England and Wales parliamentary candidates Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress People from Redcar