Joined: Mon May 05, 2008 4:57 pm
Posts: 184
Location: bucks
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GBC wrote: brightonbreezy wrote:
Not being a member of the Railway Union, as 96% of us aren't, I've no idea what the GMB / RMT joint initiative comprises of. Or should I say, did consist of? I do know that the RMT membership wasn't happy, and I believe the tie up is no longer after a meeting. 
Jim Kelly Misleads Cab Trade
The chairman of the Unite Cab Trade Committee, Jim Kelly has jumped on the band wagon in a mud slinging competition, started by the LTDA, aimed at discrediting the newly formed RMT London Taxis Branch that has been so warmly welcomed by disgruntled members of other trade organisations.
As with the lies that we have seen published in the Taxi paper, Mr Kelly, whose membership is falling at an alarming rate, has gone over the RMT web site with a fine tooth comb, to try to find a controversial topic with which to embarrasse members of the trades biggest growing union and stem the exodus from within his own ranks.
After weeks of burning the midnight oil, Mr Kelly has found a small paragraph that,if read incorrectly, can have dual connotations over the true meaning of the passage.
The piece on the web site states.
"The RMT organises over 80,000 members across all sectors of the transport industry."
True, it does just that. This includes Licensed Taxi drivers,Bus drivers and believe it or not train drivers and shunters.
"In the Taxi and Private Hire vehicle trade, we have members across Britain including in Greater London, Leicester and Swansea."
If you read this sentence again you will see the author has called the trade we work in, as Licensed Taxi drivers, "The Taxi and Private Hire vehicle trade", a common mistake which we see in the press week after week, made by journalists lumping us all in the same trade as if we are one. A mistake that the former head of the PCO, Ed Thompson, made publicly on national TV, when he said "where I come from they're all Taxis, Private hire and black cabs".
Now what Mr Kelly has tried to do here, is insinuate that the RMT represents drivers who work solely in the Private hire trade, which it does not.
It was in a statement made to hundreds of working Taxi drivers at the Royal Oak Taxi Centre, that General Secretary Bob Crow said in his speech ;
"The RMT do not represent drivers who work solely as PHV drivers. If we are approached, we point them in the direction of the GMB and Unite".
Something that Jim Kelly has omitted to tell his readers is that Unite do represent PHV drivers all over the country.
However there is a grey area within the "Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Trade",
as some Hackney Carriage drivers, outside London,hold dual licenses and work as both Hackney Carriage and Private hire, mainly in small towns across the country, because in their town there is no radio circuit for Hackney Carriage drivers.
The London Taxi branch of the RMT has no intention, now or in the future, to work with or represent Private Hire drivers. We leave that to the dedicated Private Hire Unions such as the GMB.
We also have no business connection with the Private Hire industry, unlike the LTDA who have a 20% share in a certain Private Hire company.
Today, 23rd November 2009, every member of the RMT London Taxis Branch has received a letter from the General Secretary Bob Crow that states "The RMT do not have minicab drivers as members". 
James Thomas.
Lead Officer, Ranks and Highways
RMT London Taxi Branch.
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