Socialist Resistance

An archive of socialistresistance.org, 2002–2022

RMT report back Bob Crow's speech got the biggest cheer

Socialist Resistance no5  |  page 6-7

This is scanned newsprint, not web text. The original PDFs carried no text layer at all, so every word here was read off the page by OCR. Expect dropped opening letters, run-together words and wrong characters. There was no contents page to cut the paper up by, so the articles were found from the size of their headlines: a headline may carry its kicker, and where an article ran beside a boxed panel a few lines of the neighbour can appear. The scanned issue is the authority; this text is here so the words can be found at all.

Report from the RMT delegation to the People's Assembly for Peace - 12th

Around 25 RMT representatives were among the thousands of trade unionists, anti-war campaigners including celebrities and MPs) and everyone from school students to greybeards who attended the Peoples Assembly for Peace.

RMT delegates to the Peoples' Assembly, who all turned up at short notice and in their own time were joined by RMT General Secretary, Bob Crow and members of the Council of Executives in support of the campaign to Stop The War on Iraq.

Bob Crow got the biggest cheer of the morning when he pointed out that the British government is happy to fork out £4 billion for an aircraft carrier, but can't even

A worker for Save the Children Fund pointed out that the Treasury has given the Ministry of Defence £1.5 billion to attack Iraq but nothing for humanitarian support. Tony Benn pointed out that 35 million people die annually from hunger, but the priority of US President George Bush is still war.

If the US and UK governments attack Iraq, we should show the British people that we are against it. Everyone should do something to show their opposition to the war -even if it is just by wearing a badge, or putting a poster on a train. If it is going to be a case of the people versus the government, we can't let the government win! Resolutions on Trade Unions

The Peoples' Assembly for Peace carried two resolutions calling on the trade union movement to take action to Stop The War on Iraq. The second resolution, moved by Billy Hayes of the CWU and seconded by Paul Mackney from the NATHE, read;

"The trade union movement has the power to stop British intervention against Iraq. We therefore demand that a recal Congress of the TUC be immediately organised to call general strike action against Blair's support for the US's illegally planned attack on Iraq.

Millions of lives are at stake and the Tory anti-union laws must not be used as an excuse to stop the trade unions organising such decisive action."

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duced through contracting out of public soclalist reststance April 2003 1