Bob Crow Dies

[Colwyn]

A great TU leader. He quadrupled the membership of his union and always did the very best he could for the people he represented. Only 52 years old. RIP.

[usedbustickets]

Well that comes as a shock, and a loss for his family at only 52.  I am not sure I would describe him as a great trade union leader, but as Colwyn has said he put his membership first and worked hard to both advance and defend the interests of that membership in the collective bargaining arena.

Where I differed from him, and other leaders in the RMT, was on the RMT affiliation to the Labour Party, or rather dis-affiliation from Labour.  Stand your corner and make the fight inside the party, not to leave and snear at the people and policy they left.  I'm afraid that Bob was one of those trade unionists of the hard left, particularly from London, who took a simplistic syndicalist position based on industrial muscle being the only way to advance the cause of the working man, and that the Labour Party was a distraction.  Which is a crying shame given that the NUR (from which the RMT was in part constructed) was part of the original group of trade unions that gave life to the Labour Party through the Labour Representation Committee (LRC).

[GordonA]

I must totally agree with Colwyn on this. Bob Crowe made more of an impact on the Trades Union Movement in the U.K. in his, unfortunately short life, than any other in a similar position.
As a great-grandson/grandson/ son of coal-miners, & an N.C.B. surveyor myself, I have an inbred affinity with all things connected to Trades Unions, where would the working man/woman be without them ??
God Bless Bob Crowe, R.I.P.                   
                                             
                                                                                                     

[usedbustickets]

Not perhaps the best of time to be setting the record straight on Bob Crow, but to set it in some sort of historical context, listed below are some of the trades unionists that I believe earned the description of being 'great'.  I am afraid Bob Crow does not make the list, nor even the second list of great (British) trades unionists.  So in no particular order:-

Bill Morris, Ben Tillett, Jack Jones, Jack Dash, Jimmy Airlee, David Basnett, Hugh Scanlon, Rodney Bickerstaff, Tom Mann, Clive Jenkins, Gavin Laird and the giant amongst them all Ernest Bevin.

[Colwyn]

Yes a list of great men (and only men) but all from a very different time in a very different land. Bob Crow should be judged against the struggle of his own generation and, in my view, he stands at the top in that context. If we want to debate this more then perhaps a Debating thread would be a better place than a RIP thread.

[BernieTeyze]

God Bless, what a devastating loss for his wife and kids.

[usedbustickets]

Colwyn - your possibly right on the alternative place for debate, although I do not recall us according that to Thatcher??

[Jacqui Harvey]

I enjoyed his performance on HIGNFY   He seemed to have a good personality.  I read he had a suspected heart attack.  Also read he was separated from his wife, had one child and was now living with a partner.  The big surprise for me was he earned £95,000 per year.  Not bad for a Union man, even more that M.P.'s earn.  However, I am sure he worked hard for his money.  R.I.P.
I have agree once again with Mr Tickets. Mrs Thatcher's thread on here when she died was not dignified at all and a lot of debate took place, so you can't have one rule for one and a different rule for another.   

[desmartinson]

Baroness Thatcher please Pete, lets show some respect to the great Lady, for defeating the Union Grip on Employers.    

[KKOB]

Also read he was separated from his wife, had one child and was now living with a partner.  The big surprise for me was he earned £95,000 per year. 

He earned a package worth £145,000, far more than any of his members, and yet lived in a council house. ............

Crow is survived by his partner, Nicola Hoarau, a son and three daughters.

Obituary - Bob Crow - The Guardian

Not only did he earn a substantial amount more than an MP, he earnt about the same as the PM.