RMT union chief Mick Lynch has risen to prominence over the last several months due to his no-holds-barred approach to telling it how it is and voicing working-class concerns, he has shown not only the media and the Labour Party that the working class not only have a voice but can use it effectively.
He has used his position as General Secretary of the RMT union not only to fight his workers’ corner but to effectively fight the corner of every working-class person in the UK. Throughout this cost of living crisis Union leaders such as Mick Lynch, Sharon Graham, Eddie Demsey and Ian Hobson has done more to articulate the plight of the workers than most.
Lynch told those gathered at the Durum miners Gala: “we are back, the working class are back,” before adding: “Working-class men and women having to go to foodbanks, using state benefits while working 50, 60 hours a week. – it cannot stand, it cannot be tolerated anymore.”
He went on to say of the Tories: “They are ruthless in their pursuit of profit. And we have to be ruthless in our pursuit of equality and social justice for every man and woman and child in this country.”
Cost of living crisis
On the cost of living crisis, he stated:
“The best answer to the cost of living crisis is not occasional dole-outs from Richie Sunak or whoever is sitting in number 10 today, it’s through the pay packet of working class people.”
“We need pay rises every year that meet the challenge of the cost of living and we need our unions to put these flags, every single one of them in all of the working class communities of this country, our flag independent of any politician, with our values, our history, our culture, showing the way for working people.”
“And if the politicians of any stripe want to get in our way, we’ll roll them out of the way and get off our own politics.”
“So I say to Keir Starmer and the front bench, you need to find your message, you need to find your voice and it’s got to be the voice of the working people in struggle or you have no place in our movement.“
