Socialist Outlook talked to RMT executive and strike committee member ALAN POTTAGE. "The signal workers have done well. After three months the strength is still there, but we have to find a way to apply more pressure to Railtrack.
This has become a political dispute, with the stumbling block of the government not allowing negotiations. They must be forced to withdraw. This will take more than the signal workers themselves. It is an attack on the whole movement: the. question is what is the movement going to do?
Second front
We must alleviate the pressure on the signal workers by opening up another front. The issue of safety for other railworkers gives us the means of doing this.
We also need to get other unions to act. The TUC must mobilise the movement to defend trade unionism. We know they TUC are capable - but so far they have been unwilling.
Pressure must be applied to make the TUC work for us. At the TUC conference other trade unions took inspiration from the signal workers. But it is not something for the history books, we need action now. Their disputes must be brought to a head while ours is continuing, not left until ours is finished.
The Labour leadership say they believe out claim is just, but with a few notable exceptions Labour MPs have refused to back our strike. Their failure to support us makes it look as if we are at fault With the opinion polls overwhelmingly supporting us, they have shot themselves in the foot.
While telling us that they cannot get involved, the Labour leaders have been urging arbitration, which is a major reason why it was an issue at the Grades Conference.
If the Labour Party support our claim they should support our action - what is needed is for the Labour conference next month to come out 100 per cent in favour of the strike." FIVE HUNDRED people marched in support of striking signal workers in Liverpool on Saturday 10 September, in a demonstration organised at short notice by the Merseyside County Association of Trades Councils.
Speakers included Vernon Hince (deputy general secretary RMT), Alan Simpson (secretary of the Campaign Group of Labour MPs), Nigel Flanagan (one of the UNISON Sefton 2) and Sylvia Pye of Women Against Pit Closures.
The general mood of the signal workers was that they remained solid, but did not want to escalate the strike action since they were not convinced they could sustain it.
This reluctance to escalate the strike stems from a feeling of isolation, since the RMT leadership are