RMT press releases

Offshore energy union RMT will this evening fly a plane with messages of support for the Vestas occupation over the factory as Bob Crow and other supporters of the fight for jobs and green energy mass outside the gates for a rally in solidarity with the Vestas workforce at 6pm.

RMT and other trade unionists today managed to get some supplies of food and drink into the occupation. RMT have been working on contingency plans to drop food in by helicopter if necessary to ensure that the Vestas workers are not starved into submission and have called upon the wider trade union movement to ensure that supplies are maintained.

TRANSPORT UNION RMT today pledged full support to the workers occupying the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight and confirmed that RMT general secretary Bob Crow will be making a solidarity visit to the occupation at 6pm tomorrow evening (Thursday 23rd July).

The Vestas factory is the only unit in England manufacturing wind turbines. The Dutch company which owns it are trying to close the factory down with the loss of 625 jobs blaming the British government’s lack of commitment to renewable energy. The company is reported to have made profits of $56 million in the> first quarter of this year alone – a rise of 70% on last year.

The factory has been under workers occupation since Tuesday. Communication lines into the factory have been cut and deliveries of food and water have been blockaded by private security guards. This morning, those involved in the occupation have been threatened with summary dismissal.

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said today:
“Nothing underlines the attack on job and communities that has been unleashed in the UK by greedy bosses and incompetent politicians better than the occupation at Vestas.

Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, said:

“Transport workers in London will look at Boris Johnson’s claim that £250,000 a year for moonlighting in a second job is “chickenfeed” and wonder just what planet he’s living on.

“Our members working as cleaners on London Underground, who have been denied the London Living Wage that was promised them by Boris Johnson, will be especially angry when they are out there doing dirty jobs for little more than six pounds an hour.

TRANSPORT UNION RMT warned today of severe pressures on staffing levels and serious safety risks across the transport system as experts advised that up to 40% of the population could become ill with the swine flu over the coming weeks.

Transport workers are known to be at greater risk of infection as they tend to work in close contact with the public and colleagues, and often in confined spaces like trains, buses, the Underground, ferries and offices.

Taxi union RMT have sent out a warning to BAA that they will not fall for stalling tactics after the company announced late on Friday that they are delaying their plans to undermine the black cab trade at Heathrow by allowing minicab company’s Addison Lee and One Transport to operate what is effectively a rank system at the airport.

RMT held a mass consultation with cab drivers at the feeder car park at Heathrow last week at which Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, pledged an all-out fight with BAA over their plans to deregulate taxi services on the airport.

TRANSPORT UNION RMT warned today that services in London are staring down the barrel of a £6 billion funding gap which threatens to wreck modernisation schedules and plans for the 2012 Olympics while leaving thousands of jobs under threat.

The warning comes on the day that a new London Assembly report points to a £1.7 billion transport income gap as a result of the recession which it predicts will open up between now and 2018.

Black cab driver members of specialist transport union RMT confirmed today that they will be fighting plans by BAA which would open the door to direct booking of minicabs at Heathrow in a move that has been described as “disastrous” for the licensed taxi trade.

BAA is looking at trialing a deal with Addison Lee and One Transport at terminals 3 and 5 this year which would allow them to operate from reserved bays and from a central booking booth in the car park in direct challenge to the traditional black cab rank.

Tube union RMT warned today of another potential privatisation collapse on the Tube as a £2 billion funding row broke out between Tube Lines and Transport for London which could put essential works and thousands of jobs at risk in the run up to the 2012 Olympics.

Tube Lines, which holds the contract for the repairs and refurbishment of the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee Lines, has attempted to hack £2 billion from it's estimated costs of £ 7.2 billion on the work programme for the next seven and half years with a significant scaling back of the scope of the planned works.

Transport union RMT today called for a full National Audit Office investigation into the use of management consultants by Transport for London after new figures showed that over £15 million has been spent in one section alone, congestion charging and traffic enforcement, in the past two years. The union are also referring the matter to the Transport Committee of the GLA.

SPECIALIST TRANSPORT union RMT is urging London Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Lord Adonis to facilitate an urgent industry wide Olympics Summit between the unions, train operating companies, London Underground and Network Rail to set out a clear transport framework for the 2012 games.

The call comes on the first full day of RMT’s Annual General Meeting on the Isle of Man.