Reading RMT Branch Social welcomes RTUC Delegates

RMT Branch members and RTUC guests assemble

On 27 July 2019, Reading Trades Union Council delegates joined the Reading Branch of the RMT as esteemed guests for the annual RMT branch social. The feast was staged at Wallingford Station before the teetotal attendees were invited to take a turn driving a steam train on the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway. Kevin Brandstatter (GMB), Nikki Dancey (GMB), James Denny (RMT), James Ford (RMT), Colin Masters (RMT), Dave McMullen (GMB), Jim Parker (Unite), Chris Reilly (RMT), Barbara Roberts (RMT) and Tanya Wills (Unite) attended from RTUC.

Taking a possession (of sorts) of the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway...

The event, while being a comradely, lighthearted social, nonetheless had a sobering, generous purpose to it: £247 was raised on the day (rounded up to £500 by the Reading RMT branch) for the families of Michael Lewis and Gareth Delbridge, the railway workers killed by a train near Port Talbot on 3 July. The railway fraternity and the trade union movement more generally must continued being social - but we must also never forget the sacrifices of those who have gone before.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson - Not Welcome in Reading

The National Education Union, supported by the Reading Trades Union Council, GMB, TSSA and members of the Labour Party, assembled on 23 July 2019 for the peak time rush at Reading Railway Station to protest the appointment by the Conservative Party of Boris Johnson as British Prime Minister - without an election. Johnson's record of deceit and racism - and his close bond with the misogynist, racist and homophobic American President, Donald Trump, makes his appointment both a disgrace and a national humiliation.

Johnson's commitment to achieving British withdrawal from the European Union by 31 October 2019 on any terms demonstrates a flagrant disregard - or ignorance - of the negative impact a no-deal Brexit (or Brexit on World Trade Organisation terms) would inflict on the British economy. Johnson's announcements of prospective tax cuts for wealthy individuals and large corporations signals an ideological shift rightwards, as he aims to distinguish himself from Theresa May by advocating more reactionary, regressive policies.

With a speech from the NEU delegate, leafleting of commuters arriving in Reading from the station and conversations between protesters and the public beneath the fluttering trade union banners, the message was loud and clear - Reading rejects the ideology of Boris Johnson!