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".