Rickmansworth industrial action
20 Jul 2010
Seventy-seven tube train drivers, members of ASLEF, took strike action for 24 hours on 20 July after one of their number – a driver with a 33 year unblemished record - was unfairly dismissed from train driving.
Acting General Secretary Simon Weller says the incident that led to the discipline occurred when a woman passenger was trapped in a door, injured her leg and was left on the platform.
‘It was a regrettable incident, of course – but the sanction is totally unfair in this instance. This driver had 33 years unblemished service and he was not at fault,’ Simon says. ‘The problem was caused by safety deficiencies, especially concerning mirrors, which we had reported regularly to management.
‘It is utterly wrong that one of our members should be disciplined because management failed to react to our warnings. Our members are perfectly entitled to react against this flawed judgement – which is why 90% voted in favour of the action .’
The action, which may not close the Metropolitan line station entirely, is intended to cause maximum internal disruption to the company.
Rodney, Rather than striking ASLEF could have explained to the passengers why the train driver was not at fault. We might then support the train driver and put pressure on the management BUT as always the first resort is to strike. By striking you are simply punishing the hand that feeds you i.e. the passengers. Once you lose our support you wont get it back. Grow up and resolve disputes like adults not children.
Rodney, you suggest you are the only people who encounter danger at work. I worry that many in the rail unions are too inwardly focussed and have lost touch with the real world. If your job entailed sitting in a bubble and pressing buttons with no other responsibility, you wouldn't be paid what you are paid. With responsibility comes hassle, so stop trying to offload responsibility for it onto others. As for the unions, I think strikes nowadays are more about headlines and muscle flexing than fighting genuine causes. In the UK, for employment matters we have formal procedures ie grievance procedures and employment tribunals so why do you choose the route of maximum publicity rather than using the channels the rest of us have to use?
Aslef never wants to strike. They only do so as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted. Aslef absolutely dislikes poor treatment of its members. How would you like to be unfairly dismissed through no fault of your own?
If passengers want a safe and efficient service they should complain to the management about their policy of cutting corners instead of always taking their anger out on the drivers. The rail companies hold their workers and the travelling public to ransom, the strike could be prevented by the passengers lobbying the Rail companies.
Can't believe some of the ridiculous comments left about this situation...train drivers do a very stressful job everytime they take control of a train, they are proffesional people who DO CARE about the travelling public no matter what some people say! I wish the individual driver in this dispute all the very best.
Striking is the childish 'throw your toys out' approach which those that have no interest in compromise take. Funny how unions always preach safety is compromised by management, but aren't so keen to talk about it when one of their members is found guilty of a safety breach!
I really don't understand the selfish comments made by passengers. It's probably out of jealousy because they wish they had a good job with a strong union looking after them when management doesn't care.
In this instance the passenger was at fault, this sort of thing happens every day. So, if you do something idiotic you expect someone else to be held accountable?
If a driver makes a very serious mistake, which this was, then he should be reprimanded and disciplined. No excuses. I am surpirsed he/she not been sacked! All Rail/Tube unions always hold the paying passengers and the London Underground to ransoms. Well as far as I am concerned ENOUGH is ENOUGH. I will certainly never be on the rail unions side ever again. At some point the paying passenger, london underground, local government and central government will fight back. When that happens, strikes will not be able to save the jobs/ pay cuts that will be imposed on ALSEF's members.
I echo the feelings of 'Passenger' and 'Disgruntled of Harrow'. It angers me to read that ASLEF 'intend to cause maximum internal disruption to the company' because it is evident that their main intention is to cause maximum disruption to the paying public who they can use to hold their management over a barrel. Stop using the public to fight your causes and instead why not speak behind closed doors or in the courts like the rest of us have to. Rodney - drivers may not WANT to lose a day's pay but some ASLEF drivers didn't look too unhappy this morning as they lounged about in the sun outside Rickmansworth Station. To ASLEF - I'd suggest that maybe your 'management' aren't the only ones with flawed judgement - this kind of industrial action doesn't encourage the paying public to direct their anger towards your management but to you. I look forward to a similarly miserable journey home this evening...
To Rodney. If you want to get into a debate about danger, then the serious overcrowding caused by the strike this morning should concern you. I completely fail to see how this warranted a strike, it’s symptomatic of increasingly how out of touch unions are with the general public.
To Di(s)gruntled of Harrow ... you forget the drivers are also working/men women and their jobs are on the line every day. Perhaps you should spend a day on the front of a train and see what dangerous things some passengers get up to. Drivers don't WANT to lose a day's pay.
Well done you guys, great way to get the general public behind you. This kind of reaction by the union is unjustified and shows an absolute contempt for the working man/woman who relies on public transport to get to their jobs
Well done guys! Couldn't you get him a lawyer instead, 90% of staff may have voted for a day off but 0% of passengers voted for delays.
Good luck to all ASLEF members taking part in this action. Hope our man gets his deserved job back.....