Bob Crow's union strikes gold investing in mining, tobacco and banks In the past fortnight alone the union has announced a work-to-rule action on East Midlands trains, a strike on the Tyne and Wear metro, and threatened to strike on the Boris Bike network and the London Overground. Mr Crow, who describes himself as "communist stroke socialist," has called for the full nationalisation of the "commanding heights" of the economy. He has singled out the "absolute greed and corruption" of investment managers and has regularly criticised the pay for FTSE 100 chief executives. Yet the accounts show how the union has successfully taken advantage of the rising stock market to fund its work. The RMT holds shares currently worth £365,000 in HSBC; £131,000 in Barclays; £606,000 in Lloyds TSB Group; and £43,000 in RBS, the former employer of Fred "the shred" Goodwin. The union has invested in a range of City investment funds, including Blackrock (£105,000), Kames Capital (£202,000) and Threadneedle Investments (£79,000). It also has large holdings in BP and Shell, the oil companies; Glaxosmithkline and Astrazeneca, the pharmaceutical giants; and £485,000 of shares in Vodafone, which has been dogged by allegations of tax avoidance. The RMT also holds £425,000 of shares in British American Tobacco, the cigarette maker; £230,000 of shares in Diageo, the world's biggest spirits manufacturer; and £166,000 in Rolls Royce, which builds engines used in military aircraft. Many groups do not invest in so-called "sin-stocks" which include alcohol, tobacco and arms for ethical reasons. Other shareholdings include a £151,000 investment Scottish & Southern, the energy firm which was this year fined £10.5m by Ofgem for "prolonged and extensive" mis-selling to customers. It also holds shares valued at £281,000 in Centrica, the owner of British gas. It was accused of "gouging" families by recording double-digit profit increases in 2012 to £2.74bn, after hiking bills by 6 per cent. Dividends to shareholders increased 6 per cent. The RMT is not the only union to invest in the stock market. Unite, Britain's biggest union and a major donor to the Labour party, holds £33.4m of shares, generating dividends last year of just over £1m. It does not declare which companies it invests in. An RMT spokesman said: "RMT has an investment team that makes sure our members funds are looked after and don't get eaten away by inflation. If any trade union from any country in the world asks us to disinvest in a company we do so.