Model motion on the RMT conference on the crisis
of working class representation
1. This [branch] welcomes the decision of the
Rail Maritime and Transport union to call a national conference on the crisis of
working class representation and the campaign for trade union freedom.
2. This branch believes that the Labour Party
government has betrayed the aspirations of millions of workers – inside and
outside of the trade unions – over the past eight years. It has attacked the
provision of welfare services for all, and those who deliver them. It now aims
to dismantle the NHS and state school system. It has followed the United States
into aggressive wars of conquest in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now threatens
Syria and Iran. It has taken away democratic and civil rights in the name of the
"war on terror", while terrorising those seeking asylum on our shores. It is, in
short, an anti-working class government.
3. This branch also believes that the Labour
Party itself is impervious to normal constitutional reform. Its leadership says
it will categorically ignore any conference decisions it disagrees with. The
rules for changing the leadership effectively rule out any challenge from the
left. Its membership has more than halved and is now dominated by those loyal to
the leadership. The RMT was itself expelled for supporting the Scottish
Socialist Party, even though the SSP, unlike Labour, is committed to rail
renationalisation. Even those committed to reforming the Labour Party cannot
deny that external pressure is needed.
4. This branch believes that the working class
needs its own political representation. The anti-union laws, drawn up by
Margaret Thatcher, retained and strengthened by Tony Blair, are now the policy
of every major political party. The campaign for trade union freedom and solving
the crisis of working class political representation are now intrinsically
interlinked.
5. This branch therefore agrees to send x
delegates to the conference on the 21 January 2006. Furthermore, we agree to
contact other local unions, campaigns and working class political organisations
(e.g. Respect, the Labour lefts), urging them also to attend, and to organise a
campaign locally to continue the debate and agree on
further actions (e.g. building for the TUC's spring demonstration against the
anti-union laws).
November 2005
