In a rousing speech to delegates at the second day of the SIPTU Biennial Delegate Conference, RMT General Secretary, Bob Crow, said his union was committed to “militant trade unionism.” “I won’t stab you in the back I’ll stab you in the front,” Crow said in a speech in which he called for politicians that court trade unionists’ support before elections but then forgot about them when in office to be “scrubbed” and replaced.He said: “If they are not prepared to fight for working men and women then we must find ones that are.”He condemned the privatisation of public utilities saying that their private owners were only interested in “screwing the customer to the floor.”While stating that globalisation was not necessarily bad for workers, Crow added that the way in which it was working out in reality only benefited corporations and the wealthy.He said: “Globalisation could bring us the best, but it doesn’t.”Paying tribute to the men and women of the 1913 Lockout, Crow apologised for the leadership of his union’s failure to support them at the time. However he paid tribute to the “rank and file members” who did raise funds for the Dublin workers.Crow addressed the second day of the SIPTU Biennial Conference in the Round Room of the Mansion House, Dublin. The day also included debates on how to increase the involvement of young people in the trade union movement and the unemployment crisis.
RMT leader Bob Crow addresses Biennial Delegate Conference
