Fearless union leader will be sorely missed
WINSTON Churchill was never one to shy away from controversy – or from a good turn of phrase. “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life”.
This quotation well applies to the huge role in British public life played by Bob Crow. The leader of the RMT Union was undoubtedly a divisive figure, but it is precisely that fearlessness in standing up for what he believed in that will be sorely missed.
Although Bob Crow’s reputation was a divisive one, we should also see his passing as a time for us all to remember what the unions have achieved for every single one of us, no matter what our political colour.
Weekends; the eight-hour working day; paid vacations; lunch breaks; ending child labour – the list goes on. Without people like Bob Crow and the unions they represent these basic human rights would never have become the laws that we take for granted today.
Matt Hawkins, London Green Party, London SE23