Bob Crow

Infobox Person
name = Bob Crow


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birth_date = 13 June 1961
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occupation = Trade union leader

Bob Crow (born 13 June 1961) is the general secretary of the British trade union RMT. He is one of the founder members of the so-called "Awkward Squad" - the loose grouping of left-wing union leaders who came to power in a series of electoral victories beginning in 2002. According to Oliver Morgan in "The Observer", 17 February 2002: "Crow's is the demeanour of a growing number of radical leaders in their forties who see little point in being nicely turned out and moderate merely to keep in power a party that ignores the interests of their members".]

Early years

The son of a dock worker, he was born in Shadwell, London. His family moved to Hainault while he was an infant. He attended Hainault High School until the age of sixteen when he left school and took a series of manual jobs. While he was working for London Transport as an underground track-repairer, he started to become involved in union politics. In 1983 he was elected as a local representative to the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), and then in 1985 he became NUR national officer for track workers.

Trade union career and politics

In 1990 the National Union of Railwaymen merged with the National Union of Seamen to form the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), and the following year Crow became London Underground representative on the National Executive. In 1991 he became assistant general secretary and then on 14 February 2002 he was elected by the membership to succeed the late Jimmy Knapp as General Secretary. He received 12,051 votes in the election - nearly twice as many as the other two candidates put together (Phil Bialyk received 4,512 votes and Ray Spry-Shute received 1,997).

He was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and then the Communist Party of Britain after the CPGB's dissolution, between 1983 and 1995, when he left to join Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party (SLP). He has since left the SLP, though he remains an admirer of Scargill, and is no longer a member of any political party, although he gave his support to the now defunct umbrella group Socialist Alliance, and believes that all socialist parties should unite. In the 2005 general election, he endorsed Robert Griffiths, the Communist Party of Britain's candidate in Pontypridd, calling him "a champion of workers' rights". [ [http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7336 "What future for unions?"] (2005 interview) ] Griffiths went on to win 233 votes (0.6%), coming in last place out of the six candidates.

On 1 January 2002 Crow was attacked outside his home by two men wielding an iron bar. [BBC News, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1742875.stm Rail union leader attacked] , 4 January 2002] He speculated that he was the victim of hired employer muscle. [ [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,651585,00.html Arriving now, Comrade Bob] , Observer, February 17 2002]

It has recently came to light that after speaking at the founding conference of the National Shop Stewards Network on Saturday 7th July 2007 that Crow is calling for a new party for the working class. [ [http://www.cnwp.org.uk Campaign for a New Workers' Party] ] This was prepeated at the NSSN and Campaign for a New Workers Party conference in 2008.

Crow led a strike of 2,300 RMT members working for the insolvent London transportation contractor Metronet from 3 September 2007, which severely reduced London's public transport services for two days and were branded "entirely unjustified" by Prime Minister Gordon Brown [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6979216.stm BBC: More delays after tube strike] ; [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6971816.stm BBC: Underground strikes go ahead.] ] . For his part, Crow has criticised the 'Right-Wing media' for its supposedly biased coverage of the event, and has maintained critics of the strike are trying to infringe on what he sees as the 'basic necessity' of unions having the right to strike. [ [http://www.newstatesman.com/200709100001] We were right to strike ]

Crow was reported by "The Times" newspaper to be riding on a part of the Tube that wasn't out of action during the strike he organised. ["The man who brought London to a halt shows how a union boss gets about town", The Times (5 Sep 2007) online]

Bob Crow in a TV interview with London Tonight news [2007] claimed that he would make sure there were strikes until the tube network was re-nationalised. Crow has been alleged to be preparing strikes on the Underground to coincide with the 2012 London OlympicsFact|date=August 2008.

Personal life

He is married, with two daughters and one son.

References

External links

* [http://www.rmt.org.uk The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)]
* [http://communist-party.org.uk/index.php?file=newsTemplate&story=84 "Rail union leader praises communist 'workers' champion'"]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3850251.stm BBC profile]