for some going to Florence was a Fway of eting out your sal to sce
who bought your wares. As Alex Gordon, of the RMT Executive, explained in the last issue of Resistance, the RMT sent its delegation to involve itself in the key debates and to try to use the discussions to deepen our practical relations with other trade unionists across Europe.
So, in many ways, the highpoint of the Forum for us took place away from the organised sessions at a hastily convened meeting of railway trade unions held in the local union reps office on Platform 2 of Florence's main rail station. There, union activists from Italy, France and the Spanish State met with us to discuss the EU's planned deregulation of freight transport and the threat of rail privatisation across Europe.
The RMT sent a delegation of seventeen activists, led by Assistant General Secretary, Pat Sikorski and EC member Alex Gordon. We intervened into debates both from the top table and from the floor, focussing not just on transport issues but more centrally on what sort of trade unionism we need, and how the trade unions need to relate to the broader movement.
We need to build an active anti-neo-liberal trade unionism, which stands against the policies of social partnership and sees its true allies in the anti-globalisation movement. This means driving forward the increase in trade union struggles across Europe, linking up at an international level in practical action.
As part of the International Transport Federation the RMT is involved in all sorts of official international joint union activity. But too often these are little more than paper exercises, joint press releases or •• common posters announcing "days of action" which never actually happen.
Taking up Ssues Longshoreworkers dispute in the USA we have to fight to give these formal actions real content. But at the same time we need to work with the radical "autonomous" unions prepared to organise serious strug gles.
That was why our meeting in the railway station was so important. We are now able to seriously pose the question of co-ordinated action across Europe against rail privatisation.
The Blair, Berlusconi, Aznar anti-union axis requires a similar European-wide alliance - we need to be building a co-ordinated response to attacks on workers rights.
How the unions, movements and parties relate to each other was a theme running through a series of discussions in Florence. Clearly for some in the movement the experience of "official" trade unionism left them cold. Indeed, hearing an official representative of the European TUC call on us "to embrace globalisation" at one session like the was hardly inspiring. want to compartmentalise the struggle. The reverse is true. We need to learn from each other. As Pat Sikorski pointed out in one debate, in the 1970's it was by taking the demands of the women's movement into the struggle at the workplace at the same time as taking up the concerns of working class women that the women's movement was able to develop and the trade union movement able to strengthen. the new anti-globalisation movement. And the movement needs to integrate the strength and experience of the unions. This has to go hand in hand with. developing political organisation, not to bring down answers from above, but to synthesise our range of experiences and to focus our actions. But other more radical voices seemed to The trade unions have a lot to learn from Above all for the RMT, the ESF was a way of breaking out of the straitjacket of the offiTransport Workers (RMT) a British trade union which officially participated in the ESF regards attacks on the right to express dissent and exercise our democratic rights as being totally unacceptable. In the present international situation of a drive towards war, these actions by the state, duplicated in other countries as well as Italy. represent an escalating use of the 'strategy of tension' aimed at iso lating, criminalising and attempting to crush all forms of protest. As we say in the trade union movement in Britain "An Injury To One Is An Injury to All!" whatever support and assistance that we can to our italian sisters and brothers. We would ask that you convey this message of support to wherever it may be of use and to inform us directly of the latest develop ments in this situation together with any specific requests which you may have for assistance. Yours in Solidarity. Robert Crow, General Secretary. RMT RMT leader Bob Crow on the September 28 anti-war march Fight