Three Bridges Branch once again welcomed Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary, to an awards presentation evening to recognise the efforts and loyalty of long serving members of the Union.
The event was hosted at the new venue for Three Bridges Branch meetings, the well-appointed Three Bridges Football Club main suite and boardroom, and was run in conjunction with Brighton and London Branches. The evening proved immensely popular, with a turnout of well over 100 people, some of whom brought their children, making it an event for the whole family.
Across the 3 branches, 20 people qualified for long service awards ranging from 10 to 40 years, and a good proportion of those were able to be present on the evening. Health and work commitments prevented other members from attending, but arrangements have been made for them to receive their medals.
10 and 25 year medals were presented by Bob Crow to John Spies, Three Bridges Branch, and Martyn McCormack, Three Bridges Branch, respectively. Bob then went on to present a total of 6 medals to members with 40 years service, a real achievement in today's world. They were to Tony Ockenden and Brian Anderson, both from Brighton Branch, Antony Ace, Dennis Kilshaw, Michael Tullett and Robert Walls, all from Three Bridges Branch.

Although on a tight schedule, with all day meetings at ACAS, Bob took time to talk about the current situation in respect of Pensions and Government cuts.
On the former, he said that whilst everyone needed to be aware of a changing work environment, the so-called 'Black Holes' in pension funds were not as serious as stated. A change in the way that Actuaries calculated pensions meant that money for pensions now had to be available from day 1 for each employee, rather than when they retired, creating an apparent immediate shortage that in reality did not exist.
Switching to the emotive subject of Government cuts, Bob expressed the view held by many people that too much was being done too soon. Whilst everyone acknowledged the fact that cuts had to be made, the necessity to make those in the time period laid out by the Government was in dispute.
He pointed out that Britain only finished paying for the First World War 2 years ago, and that we would not finish paying for World War 2 until after 2020, much longer periods of repayment than agreed with our current deficit. The reduction period was arrived at after negotiation by the Prime Minister with the World Bank, and a different negotiator might have come away with a different result….
Also, with 17 millionaires in the current Cabinet it was difficult to see how the minor tax increases they would suffer would equal the impact on the rest of the public who had lower levels of income. In particular there was an anomaly in the Child Benefit Reform that still allowed couples who both had incomes to retain the benefit whereas a single earner over a certain figure would not. The better off would stay better off and the poor would get poorer.
As in the past, an excellent buffet was provided by Jose Arguelles and his wife, and despite the high quality of the food there was inevitably some left over; rather than let it go to waste the union was pleased to donate it to a local children's firework party on the Friday.
Dave Crawford, Secretary Three Bridges Branch, who organised the event, thanked Bob Crow for coming, and also everyone who had helped make the evening a success; pictures of the event and minutes of the Branch Meeting held immediately afterwards are available on this website.