“We will not allow employers to challenge our right to organise in trade unions across our country. We are determined to grow our movement, to provide people with the best pay, pension, health and safety and dignity in their lives.”
Workers of the world unite! As activists gather in Brighton for the 157th Trades Union Congress, Mick Whelan, General Secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers’ union, reflects on the unity and solidarity shown by – and to – his members.
This is the time of year – when we get together at the Trades Union Congress in Brighton and the Labour Party conference in Liverpool – that we get a chance to reflect on, and to celebrate, the unity and the solidarity of the Labour Party and the labour movement.
I got a real sense of that unity and solidarity just last week when, on Friday 29 August, dozens of activists from other trade unions joined ASLEF members at a mass rally and picket in Hull.
That was also the day when the general secretaries of 30 trade unions backed us in our battle with Hull Trains, an open access operator on the East Coast main line which has sacked a train driver who has done nothing wrong and who has a completely clean safety of the line record.
As Sarah Woolley, General Secretary of the Bakers, Food, and Allied Workers’ Union, who joined us in Hull, said: ‘Raising safety concerns is not just a right, it’s a duty.’
As Dave Pike, of the North East, Yorkshire & Humber TUC, told activists: ‘An injury to one is an injury to all.’
And as Ian Murray, president of the Fire Brigades Union, announcing the FBU is donating £2,000 to our members’ strike fund, told the rally: ‘Hull Trains management are an absolute disgrace.’
The general secretaries of 30 trade unions warned Hull Trains that by sacking an ASLEF member for justifiably raising genuine health and safety concerns at an internal company meeting, at which staff are encouraged to speak freely and frankly, it will damage the safety culture, on which passengers and staff depend each day, right across the rail industry.
That’s why activists joined ASLEF members in a show of solidarity at Hull Paragon station as union leaders promised to ‘use the full power and weight of our movement to make sure Hull Trains is held to account for these actions.’
Now I am enormously grateful to the members of other trade unions who are standing shoulder to shoulder with us to show the world that we are right and the company is wrong.
Because Hull Trains sacked a driver – without proper due process – for doing nothing wrong. He has a completely clean safety record. He spoke about issues around fatigue, in a safety meeting about fatigue, at the company. And when the company downloaded the black box it discovered that the driver had driven perfectly and correctly throughout his journeys.
That didn’t stop Hull Trains from sacking him – without rhyme or reason, justification or cause. It is a witch hunt which has serious ramifications for every driver and the whole UK rail industry. Because if drivers cannot bring safety concerns to the attention of the company, for fear of being punished, then the entire safety culture on which our industry depends will have been undermined.
Enormously grateful, yes. But not surprised. Because, ever since we came together to form trade unions, and to forge this great movement of ours, and the party which was born out of the union movement, that is what we done.
Stood together. Side by side. Shoulder to shoulder. To advance the cause of labour, industrially and politically. To defend our members from bad bosses, from witch hunts, vendettas, and victimisation. And to try to create a better, fairer, and more just world.
This is no longer just about Hull Trains, ASLEF, and safety. This strike is important to our entire movement. Trade unions will not sit by and allow employers to jeopardise health and safety at work. We will not allow employers to challenge our right to organise in trade unions across our country. We are determined to grow our movement, to provide people with the best pay, pension, health and safety and dignity in their lives. The strike, the rally, and the letter of protest from our movement are vital in providing this united front.
- Mick Whelan has spent 41 years on the railway, and 41 years as an active trade unionist. He was elected General Secretary of ASLEF in 2011; became chair of TULO, now Labour Unions, in 2016; and was elected to Labour’s NEC in 2017. This is his third and final term as General Secetary and he is set to step down at the end of this year after his successor has been elected.
