The rally was organised by Hastings & District Trades Union Council.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Go for it. Yeah, I'd like to thank you all for coming down and supporting the RMT.
00:05 Again, today, this is over a year that we've been taking industrial action.
00:10 Luckily, we're pretty solid here.
00:12 I'd like to thank the Trade Council, because every single day of dispute,
00:18 we've been out on strike, they've come along and supported us.
00:22 I'd like to thank everybody who supports us, because it's all good.
00:25 It's still alive. We have a mandate until November.
00:28 And then you look around, there's chaps and chappacks and ladies.
00:33 We're solid.
00:34 Don't forget, we're talking about saving public transport.
00:37 It's public transport, not private transport.
00:41 This government has been steadily privatising it, like it's done with water,
00:45 like it's done with education, like it's doing with the health service.
00:49 And we need unions in all of those to stand up and be counting.
00:53 The last year has been great.
00:55 There's beginning to be a solidarity across workers, across all of those movements.
00:59 But I have to say that it's the railway unions who've been the most solid for the longest,
01:05 and we must respect that.
01:07 One thing that hasn't come out in all of this sham consultation is,
01:11 why do we want people to use the trains?
01:15 We want them to use the trains to stop them using their cars,
01:19 to get people off the road, to keep the planet safe for the future.
01:24 And the government have forgotten, totally forgotten, if they ever knew,
01:27 that we're in a climate emergency.
01:29 So the idea of going to machines that don't work,
01:33 that actually are off-putting to so many people, leaving people stranded,
01:39 I think the proposals this time round, and it's only the start of it,
01:43 the proposals this time round, including leaving Rye Station unstaffed completely
01:48 for most of the weekend.
01:50 That's insane. Rye is a tourist destination.
01:53 So you're saying that you're going to just leave it to chance,
01:56 whether the system works, from Saturday lunchtime through to Monday morning.
02:00 Absolutely bonkers.
02:02 The consultation hasn't yet started for Hastings,
02:05 but we know what it will say when it will come.
02:07 It will be mealy-mouthed about turning Hastings Station into something better
02:11 than it is now.
02:13 Well, it's only going to be better when it has proper staffing,
02:16 seven days a week, looking after the public, making people feel safe to use the trains,
02:21 and then, when it's all over, we'll get people back into public transport and off the roads.
02:25 Well done, RMT.
02:27 [applause]
02:31 Good luck, safe journey.