THE CAMPAIGN to halt the privatisation of London's tube system is not helped by the deepening witch-hunt inside the rail union RMT.
This is aimed at the Left in general, and Pat Sikorski, key Secretary of the London Underground Regional Council, in particular.
Standing in the Assistant General Secretary elections, Pat got 45% of the vote against the right wing incumbent Vernon Hince. In response the Executive have proposed that Pat be "suspended from holding any office in the Union for five years - implementation to be suspended for a three year period" In addition he is to be denied any union benefit for six months. This is a clear green light for LUL management to attack Pat, as they have done in the past.
Ostensibly Pat's "crime" was to distribute unofficial election material. But in practice his real crime, apart from giving Hipce a close call, was to expose the fact that the election was being organised in breach of Union rules, and to have forced it to be re-run properly. It is a blatant case of "shooting the messenger"
There was a travesty of an "investigation", which included a questionnaire to all RMT branches asking loaded questions about any contacts with Pat (all this taking place during the election itself and clearly designed to discourage support for him).
After this the Executive decided to punish Pat without any hearing - giving him no notice of charges, no interview or right to make representation, no notification of sentence or right of appeal.
The fact that this process was supported by members of the Socialist Labour Party (Pat's own party) on the Executive only makes the matter worse. In addition it is also proposed to give the Executive the right to remove from elections any future candidate deemed to be "in breach of Rule".
This would give the Union leadership unwarranted powers to interfere in the electoral process to safeguard "their" candidates or settle personal grudges against anyone whose face did not fit.
The witch-hunt has provoked deep concern across the RMT. As we go to press the RMT AGM (annual conference) is just startDelegates will have a chance to call a halt to this particular attack. But whatever happens at the AGM, RMT members will need to organise, more than ever before, to ensure the rightward drift in the union is brought to an end.
For many years, key figures on the Left have argued against building a rank and file movement inside the RMT. Their arguments are looking increasingly thin.
Whilst it is necessary to be sensitive to the historical organisation of the union and also to avoid getting caught up in sterile arcane theoretical debate, it is clear that a new rank and file movement does need to be built.
UNITE!, the new