By Labour Affairs

Rail maintenance budgets slashed

The need for an energetic trade union leader for the RMT has not gone away.

The issues within the industry that led to the industrial action have not been resolved.

Scot Rail, state owned, is pushing ahead with a programme to reduce booking office hours, in some cases by 80%. Northern Rail are attempting to push through the closure of significant number of their booking offices. Network Rail, who are responsible for rail infrastructure, are slashing maintenance budgets. During the industrial action Eddie Dempsey was the lead negotiator for Network Rail. So the underlying issues that led to the industrial action are still unresolved. Furthermore, as we are now seeing progress in the formation of Great British Rail, much of the rail network will fall under one single employer. That in itself is a powerful tool for any trade union.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, has announced that he is retiring at the age of 63. 

Why now? He didn’t have to.

His term of office was to run to October 2026.  Best guess is that he has “gone early” to smooth the path for his likely successor, Eddie Dempsey.

Dempsey is similar in that he’s solidly London-Irish, lives in a council flat, is combative and no-nonsense.  A lot younger (early to mid 40’s) a bit more ideological than Lynch (describes himself as a Connolly socialist) but is equally grounded.  He’s the next best thing.

My guess is that Lynch has organised an early exit to secure the RMT’s future – leaving little time for “The Left” to organise a candidate.

Lynch is 63 or 64 and could have done another 5 year term.  However, I suspect he believes in retiring at 65 in the old-school way. 

It’s also possible that Lynch can’t stomach Starmer. Could be a response to Louise Haigh being sacked as Transport Secretary.  I met Mick Lynch at an Irelands Future event a while ago (before the election) and spoke to him for quite a while (we were on the same panel).  He said he has assiduously briefed Louise Haigh who (in his words) was “no socialist but is honest and wants to do the right thing”.

Her shafting (on what seems to be spurious grounds) may have informed Lynch. Heidi Alexander was the successor (who served an internship with Cherie Blair but previously supported Andy Burnham).

Maybe it affected Lynch’s decision, maybe not.

The Daily Mail has a piece about Eddie Dempsey posing with “a pro-Putin separatist” with a photograph in its January 9th edition. The demonisation is starting early.

The Daily Telegraph also started its campaign early with its headline:

“If you thought Mick Lynch enjoyed bringing Britain to a halt, you should see who may replace him”.  The article continues:

“The fearsome RMT leader was behind numerous rail strikes that made life hell for commuters, yet Eddie Dempsey makes him look ‘gentle’.

If Dempsey, 43, from New Cross in south London, does make the move to the top job following an internal election, he will be following in a line of Left-wing firebrands that goes back from Lynch to Cash to Bob Crow, who was a member of what is now the Communist Party of Britain. The RMT leadership has been a crucible of the hard-Left, in particular home to a class war ideology adjacent to communism and distinct from the identity politics of many younger activists. They have also put themselves at odds with progressives asstaunch advocates of Brexit.”

Comment on the Telegraph article:

Despite the obvious demonisation of Dempsey (and for that matter the leadership of his union) there is a surprising insightful comment about the distinction within trade unions of those with a core belief in understanding industrial relations by way of political economy (or if you like class politics) and those members (although the reality is those in leadership positions) increasingly motivated by identity politics.  It doesn’t say it directly but our political classes prefer the latter to the former, because it is a distraction for the unions away from the business they should primarily be involved in; and it also tends to  alienate ordinary members from union participation. I was lucky in my industry  (the Dublin buses) where identity politics barely intruded  into our trade union practice except when the disruptive Trots ( SWP) attempted to take over the NBRU  –  their objective was to fashion that union in its own image and use bus workers to undermine Social Partnership. As it was the Trots misread the nature of the NBRU and the latter eventually (and inevitably) colluded with management in order to rid them of these irritants when they made some headway in their takeover.  However, this intrusion of leftie identity politics appears to have been more successful in the UK (and by extension the British Labour Party  – look at some of  their MPs who have trade union backgrounds).

NBRU :  National Bus And Rail Union (in Ireland)

The comments section after the article in the Daily Telegraph is almost uniformly anti-union.  Some people haven’t recovered from the time unions had power.  But if Network Rail, who are responsible for rail infrastructure, are slashing maintenance budgets, who, if not the union, is going to warn the public, and lead the fight for safety?