Mick Lynch column - RMT News April 2022

VOTE YES

Working people don't need lectures about a cost of living crisis like it's something new. We've had years of austerity, cuts, underinvestment and a coordinated drive to hammer down on standards of living while the bosses and the political elite are living it up at our expense.

It's taken a while but it seems at last that the media and politicians are waking up to some harsh realities - sparked by soaring inflation, the massive hike in energy costs and the increase in national insurance contributions. All of these punishing blows hit those with the least the hardest.

It's against this backdrop that we've seen the savage and illegal assault on maritime jobs and wages by P&O - that company have displayed a level of contempt which has sent shockwaves through our workplaces but they are by no means alone.

Our members taking on transport cleaning companies in a battle for pay and workplace justice are having their experiences of poverty pay, shocking conditions and a bullying culture that forces them to work while sick laid out in all its detail by this trade union. We salute and support them in their fight right to the hilt.

But now we are faced with attacks that threaten to unleash a similar culture right across the rail industry in a drive for cuts and to prop up private company profits. Hard-won agreements on job security, working conditions, pay and pensions are all being lined up for a kicking that would rip apart years of progress.

That's why we are launching the biggest wave of coordinated balloting for action in a generation and it's why we are appealing to you to VOTE YES for action to enable us to mobilise the kind of campaign that is our only defence against the barrage of attacks.

Our London Underground members have already delivered by over 90% a YES vote in a parallel ballot on the same raft of issues. In the past month they have come under political and media attack for securing a pay deal which outstrips the higher measure of inflation. I'm proud of that achievement which proves that only strong trade unionism can defend workers jobs and livelihoods.

So the fight is now on. And it's one we have to win. The alternative is fire and rehire, pay and pensions shredded and working conditions torched. In this magazine we set out the shape of the campaign of resistance. Whoever your employer and whatever your grade answer the call from your union and join this fight.