Bob Crow

Robert Crow (13 June 1961 – 11 March 2014) was an English trade union leader who served as the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from 2002 until his death in 2014. He was also a member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). A self-described "communist/socialist", he was a leading figure in the No to EU – Yes to Democracy campaign.

Crow joined London Transport in 1977 and soon became involved in trade unionism. He was regarded as part of the Awkward Squad, a loose grouping of left-wing union leaders who came to power in a series of electoral victories beginning in 2002. After he became leader, the RMT's membership increased from around 57,000 in 2002 to more than 80,000 in 2008, making it one of Britain's fastest-growing trade unions.

Crow was a polarising figure in British politics. Supporters praised him as a champion of the working class and a successful trade unionist;

Early life Born at 162 Burrow Road, Epping, Essex to Lillian (née Hutton) and George Crow; He left school at 16 and joined London Transport, where he became involved in union politics. In 1983, he was elected as a local representative to the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and in 1985 became NUR national officer for track workers. He speculated that he was the victim of hired employer muscle, although it is possible, according to The Guardian, that the culprits were members of far right activist groups who were active in Dagenham at the time. From 2006 until his death, he was a member of the Executive Board of the International Transport Workers Federation, the global trade union for transport workers.

Under Bob Crow's leadership, the RMT affiliated to the World Federation of Trade Unions and he was regularly invited to attend, in his capacity as general secretary of the RMT, the presidential council of the WFTU.

At the time he became general secretary, he had a strong negotiating position as the industry was booming, and was the leader of one of the only British trade unions which still wielded industrial strength. He kept a bust of communist leader Vladimir Lenin in his office. He described the aims of a trade-unionist as to secure "Job security, being safe, best possible pay, best possible conditions, decent pensions, and a world that lives in peace." Griffiths went on to win 233 votes (0.6%), coming last out of the six candidates. In the 2010 Local Election, he publicly supported the directly elected Mayoral candidate in the London Borough of Hackney Monty Goldman and the candidate for Leabridge Ward Mick Carty.

Campaign for a New Workers' Party Crow was an outspoken critic of Tony Blair, who "squandered a massive landslide from an electorate hungry for change, poured billions of public pounds into private pockets and accelerated the growing gap between rich and poor". He deemed the policies implemented by Blair's New Labour project to be "near enough identical" to those of the Conservatives.

In 2013, Crow accused the then Labour leader Ed Miliband of showing contempt for unions. He again called on trade unions to break ties with Labour and create a new party to challenge the "anti-worker" agenda of the mainstream political parties.

RMT industrial action After Transport for London offered workers an inflation-adjusted pay rise, Crow described TfL's approach to pay as "confrontational".

quote=I don't shirk from taking industrial action. Our job is to negotiate the best pay and conditions. Industrial action is the last resort and you don't take it lightly – but when you start you don't finish until you have won. That's what I have been brought up on. — — Crow, on industrial action

Rail managers recognised Crow as a moderate within the RMT; he faced calls from figures to the left of him who were more eager to use industrial action.

No2EU secured 153,236 votes, compared to an RMT membership of 80,000. The party achieved 1% of the popular vote in Britain, giving them the 12th largest share of the vote, behind Scargill's Socialist Labour Party and the far-right British National Party. This was insufficient for a seat in the European Parliament. In London, where Crow was a candidate, the party secured 17,758 votes, equating to the tenth largest vote share. No2EU secured a larger share of the popular vote in this region than the Socialist Labour Party.

Accusation of cronyism When it became known that Crow's wife had been appointed chief executive of the RMT credit union, the Milton Keynes RMT branch secretary stated he was filling posts with "henchmen". Crow responded that his wife was the only applicant for the position, and he had interviewed her for the role.

Salary The BBC reported Crow's annual salary as £145,000. It was pointed out by a journalist for The Independent that the correct figure was around £96,000, and this was also mentioned by Crow in interview. According to the Trades Union Certification Officer, in 2012 Crow's basic salary at the RMT was £89,805. The union also paid £10,313 of National Insurance contributions and £34,429 into his pension in 2012. The newspaper concluded Crow "wanted the best deal for the people who paid his salary – and they continued to reward him because he delivered it."

Crow died in the early hours of 11 March 2014 at Whipps Cross University Hospital after suffering an aneurysm and heart attack.

Personal life Crow advocated the UK to withdraw from the European Union. He also had a pet Staffordshire Bull Terrier whom he named Castro after the Cuban Marxist–Leninist leader Fidel Castro.

The Guardian described Crow as having "a very keen brain and strong emotional intelligence", Crow took a keen interest in the weather and owned a barometer, informing the press that if he had not become a trade unionist then he would have liked to have become a weatherman.

Legacy After Crow's death, the former mayor of London Ken Livingstone stated that "The only working-class people who still have well-paid jobs in London are [RMT] members" Crow had a polarising effect in British politics, Deemed highly successful in his job, BBC News commented that he had managed to become "one of the UK's best-known characters at a time when the rest of the nation's trade union movement had faded into comparative obscurity". Critics saw him as a bully who improved the status of RMT workers at the expense of commuters.

Following Crow's death, tributes were offered by figures from the trade union movement. TUC Secretary-General Frances O'Grady called him "an outstanding trade unionist, who tirelessly fought for his members, his industry and the wider trade union movement". Leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband commented that "I didn't always agree with him politically but I always respected his tireless commitment to fighting for the men and women in his union. He did what he was elected to do, was not afraid of controversy and was always out supporting his members across the country."

Bob Crow Brigade The Bob Crow Brigade is a group of volunteers from the UK and the Republic of Ireland fighting as part of the International Freedom Battalion (IFB). The IFB consists of leftist foreign volunteers fighting alongside the People's Protection Units in the Syrian Civil War in support of the Rojava Revolution and against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group has expressed solidarity with the RMT and striking rail workers in the UK. Steve Hedley, senior assistant general secretary of the RMT, said: "Bob would have been honoured that young people from Britain would fight the forces of evil in his name. A great admirer of the international brigades that fought in Spain, Crow would of course have drawn the parallels with the new international brigades fighting clerical fascism and defending Yazhidi, Muslim and Christian workers from slavery and persecution."