The problem with the unions, RMT included, is not that they simply have bad leaders (which they certainly do). They are controlled by the bureaucracy we spoke of earlier, which is interested not in organising struggles for the defence of our interests, but in balance sheets, and the financial security of the unions (not least their wages). Hence they are quite prepared to flout democracy when the decisions do not concur with their point of view.
It is not enough simply to aim to replace the current leaders by more left wing ones. We need to break the control of the bureaucracy. What does this mean?
It means electing officials who earn wages comparable with the mass of the membership. It means an end to the cushy life of leaders who earn over €40,000 a year and have all manner of privileges. We would soon weed out the careerists and self-seekers if there was no financial reward associated with these positions. Workers need representative leaders who are elected to serve the interests of the members, not there to further their 'career. Cerlainly a full-time apparatus is needed, but one which is at the service of the members and under their control. Of course, it is not simply a question of the intentions of this or that individual. What is most important is the political basis of our unions. They will only be transformed into fighting organisations to the degree that we break them from all ideas of common interest with the employers, and to the degree that their policy in rooted in an understanding of the independence of the interests of the working class. It is ironic that the rule book of the RMT still has enshrined in it the "supersession from the capitalist system" when nearly all the trade union and Labour leaders have accepted the rule of "the market".
The struggle to mobilise the membership against the employers and the government requires a complimentary struggle to organise the membership in an ongoing battle to win control of our organisations; to drive out the careerists and compromisers; to tranform them into fighting organisations.