FIRSTLY I would like to thank those comrades from across the length and breadth of the labour and trade union movement who have sent me congratulations on my re-election as RMT general secretary for a further term.

It has been my absolute privilege to lead the union for the past five years and I am looking forward to building on that work and linking up with colleagues in the battles and campaigns that we know lie ahead.

This year’s TUC comes at a point when it looks like a general election this autumn is imminent. In fact by the time that you read this it may already have been declared and we will be presented with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to sweep away years of austerity, greed and misery and embark on a programme that puts the interests of our class and our communities at the top of the agenda.

We know what we are up against. We confront it every day of our lives. But looking through the agenda for this year’s congress it is clear to see that we have a renewed unity of purpose that will form a solid platform for our work with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party and those candidates for office who share our collective values.

The RMT is bringing a wide number of issues with us to Brighton with an emphasis on jobs and safety across the industries where we organise.

On the railways we have seen a spate of incidents out on the tracks that have brought into sharp focus the clear and present dangers for workers engaged in maintenance and renewals works.

RMT has argued repeatedly that a culture of cuts and casualisation has left our members increasingly vulnerable — particularly in red zone working areas — but our warnings have been ignored.

We have seen the impact on both our members and the local community of the tragic death of two rail workers in Margam, south Wales in July.

We await the full facts and the outcome of the investigations currently under way but we also know that the Rail Accident Investigation Branch itself has warned that there have been “too many near misses in which railway workers have had to jump for their lives.”

Those words of warning now need to be transformed into action.

We need fundamental change — and that means a safety regulator on the railway with real teeth rather than the dangerous nonsense of having an Office of Rail and Road (ORR) that is under political and employer control — and responsible for both financial and safety regulation.

We have a motion demanding an end to that nonsense and we hope you will get behind it.

But the RMT’s position has always been that workforce safety runs hand in hand with passenger safety on the transport network.

The danger for our members is mirrored by the danger for the travelling public as assaults, sexual and racially motivated crimes soar.

That is why our members on Merseyrail, Southern and South Western Railway continue to fight for both the guard and a safety and operational culture that comes before private profits.

Nowhere is that private exploitation more prevalent and more acute than in the shipping industry. Our congress motion exposes the corrupt and corrosive policy of employing foreign seafarers on short term contracts, excessive hours, shocking working conditions and rates of pay way below the national minimum wage.

Solid RMT campaigning, with broad union support, has forced the government to commit to outlawing these shocking employment practices in the offshore industry but the proposed legislation will not apply to seafarers working on routes between Britain and foreign ports.

It’s a victory, but it’s not enough and our fight for the rest of the industry goes on. As far as RMT is concerned no-one will be left behind.

I know that congress will also want to throw its support behind our Royal Fleet Auxiliary members fighting for pay justice.

It is frankly scandalous that at a time when the RFA is being deployed to yet another dangerous hot-spot down in the Gulf, the crews are being denied access to the kind of pay increases that the government has confirmed for other parts of the forces.

Come and see us on the RMT stand and pick up some “Fair Pay For RFA” campaigning materials.

So these are challenging and dangerous times for our movement.

The far right is mobilising and we need to come away from Brighton this week with a strategy for fighting and winning.

I opened up this piece by saying that we are also facing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shift the balance away from the bosses and in favour of the workers. Let us seize that opportunity.