Why vote?

It is imperative, as a member of RMT, that every single member takes the opportunity to participate when your union asks you to vote, either in an electronic referendum on your rates of pay and conditions of service, a ballot for industrial action or an internal election ballot for National Executive Committee / Regional Organiser or National official.

We have seen varying responses when members are given an opportunity to vote, with some high percentage turnouts and some low percentage turnouts.

As a union we are continually reminding members to ensure that all contact details are correct that will allow us to best communicate with members and ensure you are given an opportunity to participate in membership engagement surveys, ballots and referendums but still this remains a problematic area.

The question we must ask when turnouts are low, especially in pay referendums, is why? Why are members not voting? What can we do to improve participation? A recent pay referendum of a port employer returned a 33.33% turnout. We must look to address this and we would appreciate any feedback on this matter being given to your Branch Secretary, Regional Organiser or National Secretary, Darren Procter.