Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Making history at the RMT
Conrad Landin talks to the first female president of the RMT, MICHELLE RODGERS, about why she put herself forward for election, how the union boosts its grassroots and the importance of improving diversity
Michelle Rodgers (right) with female comrades from RMT

“I GUESS I don’t know how it happened really,” Michelle Rodgers smiles. “You just put your head above the parapet and move forward. That was that really: there was me, knee-deep in trade unionism.”

But Rodgers, who was elected the first female president of rail union RMT earlier this year, could have ended up somewhere very different. 

After leaving school, she initially trained as a chef — before having a motorbike accident, and ending up taking a job on the railways in 1989.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Great Star-t: TUC Cymru general secretary Laura Doel
Features / 2 August 2026
2 August 2026

The new TUC Cymru general secretary speaks to Morning Star Wales reporter David Nicholson about her trade union background and ambitions for the movement

Daniel Gross book
Workers' Rights / 27 July 2026
27 July 2026

US-based labour and social movements authors and organisers Robert Ovetz and James Tracy interview DANIEL GROSS about his new book, Unions of Our Own: Eight Building Blocks to Change Work and the World

CWU leader Dave Ward
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

CWU leader DAVE WARD tells Ben Chacko a strategy to unite workers on class lines is needed – and sectoral collective bargaining must be at its heart

LONG OVERDUE: Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander speaks during a visit to the South Western Railway (SWR) Bournemouth Traincare Depot, in Dorset. SWR are the first rail operator to be renationalised under the Public Ownership Act 2024, May 22 2025
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

A just transition to Great British Railways and a clean and safe railway for all is not only desirable but also necessary. MARYAM ESLAMDOUST explains