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Wilko raises the bar for railway pay talks

I want to thank all those working for our members in Freightliner and D.B.S. hit by the serial effects on the freight sector of the loss of steel and coal traffic. This loss – 16% plus in areas already economically depressed – is a bitter pill to swallow for the whole supply chain. Every officer and company council member is working hard to ensure those impacted are given every opportunity to stay on the railway.

The Shaw report flirts with further fragmentation of the railway to offset investment debt. 
There is talk of selling off 18 major stations so Network Rail can concentrate on its core 
business. Rumours abound about the sale of the overhead line structure, and communications structure, of the railway. None of this makes economic or operational sense.

Meanwhile the competition authority, endorsed by the O.R.R., suggests breaking up inter-city routes to encourage open access. 

More madness! Interesting, of course, that it’s only on lines that generate a surplus. These 
must be the only bits of the railway that need more – albeit smaller – geographical 
monopolies?

And we have Peter Wilkinson of the DfT, on £265k a year, publicly declaring that he is going to rip up the contracts of all those £60k a year three days a week train drivers? 

Apparently we all have big cars and credit cards and will crawl back after a couple of days on strike. To my knowledge there are no £60k a year three days a week drivers but maybe this base line of his should be the basis of all our future pay claims? We could call it the Wilkinson formula!

More importantly, is this DfT policy or did Wilkinson go rogue? We have asked the Transport Secretary to comment and asked what he is going to do about this person. And we reserve the right to take action if any driver suffers abuse or assault arising from his lies. As I said during the Night Tube and junior doctors disputes, they use this dirty tactic of demonising people publicly to damage their terms and conditions and futures. I wonder, is it our turn again?

Finally, I was overwhelmed by the massive support to allow me to continue as general secretary of our trade union. The numerous messages and endorsements, both within ASLEF and the wider movement, left me truly humbled and more determined not to let you down. 

Deepest thanks, as I see this as recognition of the work all of us in A.S.L.E.F. do together.

General Secretary

Wilko raises the bar for railway pay talks

I want to thank all those working for our members in Freightliner and D.B.S. hit by the serial effects on the freight sector of the loss of steel and coal traffic. This loss – 16% plus in areas already economically depressed – is a bitter pill to swallow for the whole supply chain. Every officer and company council member is working hard to ensure those impacted are given every opportunity to stay on the railway.

The Shaw report flirts with further fragmentation of the railway to offset investment debt. 
There is talk of selling off 18 major stations so Network Rail can concentrate on its core 
business. Rumours abound about the sale of the overhead line structure, and communications structure, of the railway. None of this makes economic or operational sense.

Meanwhile the competition authority, endorsed by the O.R.R., suggests breaking up inter-city routes to encourage open access. 

More madness! Interesting, of course, that it’s only on lines that generate a surplus. These 
must be the only bits of the railway that need more – albeit smaller – geographical 
monopolies?

And we have Peter Wilkinson of the DfT, on £265k a year, publicly declaring that he is going to rip up the contracts of all those £60k a year three days a week train drivers? 

Apparently we all have big cars and credit cards and will crawl back after a couple of days on strike. To my knowledge there are no £60k a year three days a week drivers but maybe this base line of his should be the basis of all our future pay claims? We could call it the Wilkinson formula!

More importantly, is this DfT policy or did Wilkinson go rogue? We have asked the Transport Secretary to comment and asked what he is going to do about this person. And we reserve the right to take action if any driver suffers abuse or assault arising from his lies. As I said during the Night Tube and junior doctors disputes, they use this dirty tactic of demonising people publicly to damage their terms and conditions and futures. I wonder, is it our turn again?

Finally, I was overwhelmed by the massive support to allow me to continue as general secretary of our trade union. The numerous messages and endorsements, both within ASLEF and the wider movement, left me truly humbled and more determined not to let you down. 

Deepest thanks, as I see this as recognition of the work all of us in A.S.L.E.F. do together.

General Secretary

Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary, has forced a government official–who stepped out of line on a public platform – to grovel after he called train drivers ‘muppets’ and told us to ‘get the hell out of my industry.’

Peter Wilkinson, who earns £265,000 a year as director of rail passenger services at the 
Department for Transport, faced calls for his resignation after his extraordinary comments at 
a public meeting in Croydon, south London. Wilkinson, who lives in Vienna, and commutes 
to work by plane, as he prefers not to travel by train, said he was looking forward to ‘punch 
ups’ with trade unions over his plans to force through changes to rosters.

Just hours after Mick demanded that Wilkinson withdraw his offensive remarks he offered 
this half- hearted apology: ‘I apologise for any offence caused by my comments. I care 
passionately about the rail industry and I am committed to helping government deliver a 
better rail service for passengers. To do this we need to work with the whole of the rail 
industry.’ The DfT added: ‘It is right that Peter Wilkinson has apologised for 
his comments.’

But Mick said: ‘This bland unacceptable non-apology does nothing to restore faith or trust in the DfT for those in the frontline who deliver the railway every day.’

Mick has written to Patrick McLoughlin to ask if the Secretary of State for Transport thinks 
‘the term muppet is appropriate language to use about staff who deliver the rail services we 
rely on every day’ and to ask whether Wilkinson’s views ‘reflect those of the DfT.’

As well as his inflammatory language, Wilkinson told a string of lies – including the claim 
that drivers have the same ‘fire break’rest stops as when trains were run on coal – at a 
meeting at the town hall organised by Gavin Barwell, Conservative MP for Croydon Central.

He said: ‘I’m furious about it and it has got to change – we have got to break them. They 
have all borrowed money to buy cars and got credit cards. They can’t afford to spend too long on strike and I will push them into that place. They will have to decide if they want to give a good service or get the hell out of my industry.’Croydon councillor Jeet Bains, Conservative member for Coulsdon West, happily tweeted: ‘Peter Wilkinson absolutely hammering train drivers. Called them muppets.’ 

The comments were so bizarre that Sameena Rizwi of the DfT had to deny her boss had been drinking before speaking.
Wilkinson is a controversial figure, disliked at the department but said to have the backing of ministers. His salary is one bone of contention; Wilkinson earns £90,000 more than his boss, the permanent secretary, at the DfT; £30,000 more than the head of the civil service; and £125,000 more than the Prime Minister.

He wants to break us but doesn’t know you

While, on behalf of our members, we try to deal with the uncertainty in the steel industry, it is hard not to have serious concerns for the future of those directly employed. The government’s belated action, to deal with an issue of which they had prior knowledge, is not just woeful and inadequate but negligent; particularly for voting against tariffs to protect our steel industry in light of the increased tariffs the Chinese have announced. car manufacturers are concerned for the future and it has serious implications for the supply chain. As a country, we cannot afford to be at the whim of another nation dominating the market, destroying competition, and then ramping up the price of essential materials in the future.

The Wilkinson affair rumbles on. There is, apparently, no retraction of his lies about £60k a 
year three day a week train drivers and we are not aware of any action being taken against 
him. But his influence in directing, from his £265k a year seat, the poor ITTs, and the 
consequences of seeking to impose conditions outside our agreements, has started on 
southern G.T.R. and Gatwick Express with other TOCs gearing up with similar nonsense. 

He said he would break us and we have asked the Department for Transport and the government whether this is their policy? surprise, surprise! That question has not been answered. They obviously do not know you, or what you expect from your union.

Yours fraternally

Mick Whelan

General Secretary

Barnham branch was delighted to welcome G.S. Mick Whelan and E.C.1 Marz Colombini to its meeting on Sunday 3 April. Mick delivered a passionate speech regarding current A.S.L.E.F. concerns including D.O.O., the challenges facing our freight sector drivers, the threat to the steel industry, the politics behind protecting our membership, D.f.T. Wilkinson’s attack on our members, and the reasoning behind A.S.L.E.F.’s position on our pensions. Mick took questions from the floor, largely on G.T.R.’s plans to increase D.O.O., and we were left in no doubt that A.S.L.E.F. would not allow any extension. Where there is currently no D.O.O., there will be no D.O.O. Thanks to Mick and Marz for attending, to branch secretary Jeff Turner for making the arrangements, and his wife for providing the high standard buffet. 

Prime Minster condemns 

‘unacceptable’ service on Southern Failways

David Cameron, in one of his last acts as Prime Minister, answering a question from Jeremy 
Quin, Conservative MP for Horsham, at PMQs, slammed the performance of Southern 
Railways – branded Southern Failways by fed- up commuters – as ‘unacceptable.’ London 
Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for the franchise to be taken away from GTR and handed to 
TfL. And passengers have been handing out flyers headlined ‘Urgent Appeal: Have you seen 
this woman?’ with a photo of Claire Perry and the hashtag ‘Where’s Claire?’ because the then Rail Minister went missing in action.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

PASSENGERS’ SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT

Angry passengers piled more pressure on under-fire Southern boss Charles Horton at a meet 
the managers session in Victoria station. The GTR CEO said commuters had been ‘very 
honest’ when expressing their frustration with the dismal service – the delays, cancellations 
and reduced timetable – his company provides.

Rona Hunnisett, a charity worker who commutes from Brighton to London, complained that 
when she asked for ‘a definitive time’ that services would improve, she received only ‘waffle and evasion.’ She added: ‘I’m sick of the constant excuses. I pay Southern £4,000 a year for a service I don’t get.’

Paul Maynard, the new Rail Minister, has said the current level of service the TOC is offering is unacceptable.

And Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: ‘The level of disruption has been immense, and enough is enough. The way in which the strike has been handled 
demonstrates, yet again, that GTR is not fit for purpose. It’s time to strip them of this 
franchise and put this rail line in public hands. The government has the power to listen to 
passengers, remove the franchise from GTR, freeze fares and compensate people fairly.’

GAME ON FOR SOUTHERN FAILWAYS

Web developers frustrated by continuing delays on Southern railways – the company dubbed 

Southern Failways by long- suffering passengers – have used their ordeal as inspiration for a 

new online game which ridicules the TOC and its ‘rubbish’ management. Tens of thousands 

of angry commuters have downloaded ramJam’s game Southern rail Tycoon – the aim of 

which is to stop guards from boarding trains so services are cancelled and ‘boom’ profits are 

picked up from passengers. once a sufficient number of train guards board a train and a 

delayed service eventually departs, the player loses the game. A Southern rail spokesman 

said: ‘It’s nothing to laugh at.’

Angry commuter hacks station display board

A disgruntled passenger hacked into a public display board at Blackfriars station to vent his 
(or her) anger in novel fashion. 

An image of the prank, posted on Reddit, shows the board displaying a Bing search page 
entitled ‘Thameslink are s***.’ Some commuters wondered, online, how someone had 
managed to hack into the board while others were more concerned about the hacker’s choice 
of search engine. ‘Seriously,’ wrote Kraven 420, ‘Who uses Bing?’ Another user gTr proudly promotes the Thameslink are s*** search page on reddit replied: ‘Thameslink, apparently. 

Explains a lot.’ A Thameslink spokesman said: ‘This display board has been hacked by a 
person or persons unknown. We are investigating how it was possible for this to happen.’

Conflict of interest 

The boss of Southern is also a director of the supposedly independent organisation which 
oversees rail safety. A leaked memorandum from the Rail Safety and Standards Board, 
published in the Morning Star, reveals that the R.S.S.B. backs Southern’s continuing attempts to remove guards from trains despite the role they have played in helping passengers after accidents.

The documents show that Southern operator Govia Thameslink chief executive Charles 
Horton is also a non-executive director of the R.S.S.B., which is funded by the rail companies – and took an active part in discussions about removing guards from trains despite the fears of passengers.

The memo is a research brief giving details of the R.S.S.B.’s views on ‘increased profitability for train companies’ if guards are removed and driver only operation is introduced. The briefing, which lists Horton as a participant in the discussions, says: ‘Adopting a strategy of guards’ redundancies delivers the greatest economic benefit.’
The unions believe the company wants to put private profit before passenger safety. 

M.P.s tell Southern to ‘get a grip’

The House of commons Transport select committee has urged ministers to ‘get a grip’ on 
monitoring rail franchise agreements – citing especially the suffering of southern passengers. 

M.P.s said evidence from passengers was dominated by the problems at G.T.R. and 
considered whether the company is now in default of its contractual obligations due to the 
number of train cancellations. ‘in normal circumstances, this would be grounds for 
termination of the contract.’

The D.F.T.’s claim that no other operator could do a better job in the circumstances was no 
longer credible, said the committee. 

On parts of the national rail network, passengers struggle daily to get the service they 
deserve, citing overcrowding, delays, complex ticketing and a lack of access for disabled 
passengers.

‘Passengers now contribute more than 70% of the industry’s real income,’ said committee 
chair Louise Ellman. ‘But, in too many places, passengers are badly serviced by the train 
operating companies.’

The report recommends an automatic compensation scheme be set up to refund southern 
passengers directly without the need to make a claim. The D.F.T. said: ‘simply changing the 
management or taking the franchise from G.T.R. would not address the issues and would only create uncertainty and cause further disruption.’ 

OOPS! RED FACES OVER P.R. DISASTER

Southern had a full scale PR disaster on its hands last month when the company begged 
beleaguered passengers to tel the RMT how they feel about the strikes. The plan – which 
senior management thought was ‘an absolute hoot!’ – backfired spectacularly. 
Southern tweeted: ‘Tweet @RMTunion & tell them how rail strikes make you feel.’ Hundreds of passengers responded, but not in the manner management hoped. 
Simon Cox: ‘I dislike unions but I dislike incompetent management more.’ 
Ferdinand Kingsley: ‘You’re a shambles and this is embarrassing. I hope you lose your 
franchise.’ Ursula Doyle: ‘I support the RMT. You, on the other hand, are a disgrace.’

DOO illegal says Dot

The national Pensioners’ convention, Britain’s biggest organisation for senior citizens, says 
driver only operation is illegal under the Equality Act. ‘our concern is that if a driver only 
train runs to an unstaffed station, with a passenger who is unable to exit the train unassisted, 
an offence will be committed under the Equality Act 2010 by putting that person at a 
substantial disadvantage,’ said Dot Gibson, general secretary of the N.P.C. ‘This needs to be 
understood and acted upon by the office of rail and road, the Department for Transport and 
the train operating companies. After 30 years of commitment, effort and public expenditure, 
to ensure disabled people can travel by train with confidence, we risk taking a retrograde step that will effectively deny people these hard-won rights and freedoms.’

The Rail Safety Standards Board says Southern’s plan to remove guards from trains will 
disadvantage disabled and elderly passengers.

D.O.O. not fit for purpose 

Standstill on Southern when drivers walk out 

A.S.L.E.F. members on Southern Railways went on strike on Tuesday 13,Wednesday 14 and 
Friday 16 December in a dispute over the company’s decision to try and force through driver 
only operation on the franchise. Drivers, who voted overwhelmingly for action – 87.3% to 
strike, and 95.6% for industrial action short of a strike, on a turnout of 77%, well above the 
government’s artificially high new threshold – will walk out again from Monday 9 to Saturday 14 January. Train drivers have not been doing overtime since Tuesday 6 December.
The strikes closed the Southern network – not one train moved – and, as the T.O.C. refuses to employ enough drivers to fulfil its legal franchise commitments, the overtime ban has hit the company hard, too, forcing it to cancel dozens of services every day.

‘A strike is always the last resort but, faced with an intransigent management, our only 
option,’ said general secretary Mick Whelan. ‘We tried to reach a sensible, workable 
compromise with Southern in the interests of passengers, the company, and staff. We always 
believed it should be possible to do a deal – as we did with ScotRail – but it takes two to 
tango and the company has not been prepared to properly negotiate.’

The company – with a desperately thin argument about E.U. laws on freedom of movement 
and the right of people to get to Gatwick Airport, described by the judge, Sir Michael Burton, as ‘novel’, a legal euphemism for ‘risible’ – took the case to the High Court, where it lost, and then to the Appeal Court, where Lord Justice Elias, sitting with Lord Justice Lewison and Lord Justice Lloyd Jones, backed our right to take lawful industrial action.
A.S.L.E.F. officers were out in force explaining our action. The G.S. was interviewed by John Humphrys in the prestigious 8.10 a.m. slot on Today on Radio 4; by Jo Coburn on Daily Politics on B.B.C. 2; by ITV News, Sky News and Channel 5 News. A.G.S. Simon Weller appeared live with Steph McGovern just after 8 a.m. on B.B.C. Breakfast; with Michael Crick on Channel 4 News; and with Jeremy Vine on Radio 2. D.O. No.1 Graham Morris was on B.B.C. South-East and Radio 5 Live and E.C. No.1 Marz Colombini did B.B.C. London and a phone-in on 5 Live, too.Mick said: ‘Our critics, in the government, and in the media, do not understand that unions, especially this one, are membership-driven and that we articulate the voice and the concerns of all the train drivers in the U.K. Bearing in mind that up to 80% of U.K. rail is now wholly or partially run by operators in other countries the court case, calling into question the right of British workers to strike, was perverse. Fortunately, the court saw sense.’ 

Sign o’ The Times

MICK WHELAN spoke out in response to a letter published in The Times on 21 November 
which was picked up as a news story and for a leading article in the paper. The tendentious 
contribution, from Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, was co-signed by Martin Griffiths of Stagecoach; Mark Carne of Network Rail; Karen Boswell of Hitachi; 
David Higgins of HS2; Russell Mears of Freightliner; David Begg ofTransport Times and ‘a 
further 20 names’ according to the paper in a clumsy but co-ordinated campaign to push 
DOO.

‘It’s a shame that Paul Plummer doesn’t know what he’s talking about,’ said Mick. ‘What Mr Plummer – who, with his background in accounting, has no operational experience of 
Britain’s railways – mendaciously refers to as ‘modern technology’ is in fact nothing of the 
sort; it is technology designed in the 1970s, and introduced in the 1980s, which is palpably 
unfit for the number of passengers we have in the 21st century.

‘What Mr Plummer disingenuously refers to as “smarter working” is, in fact, a desire to cut 
corners, and cut costs, and bring in zero hours contracts, in order to drive up profits for the 
privatised train operating companies that he represents.

‘As the trade union which represents Britain’s train drivers, we, too, believe in investment in 
the railways; but investment in what should be a public service, run properly and efficiently 
for passengers, businesses and taxpayers, not for the TOCs which, as we see every day on 
Southern Railways, are manifestly failing passengers as well as staff. We would be willing to debate this publicly with Mr Plummer, any time, any place.’

We sent a letter refuting all of Paul Plummer’s allegations but The Times, which 
acknowledged receipt of our response, chose not to publish it.

Wilkinson and DfT in conflict of interest row

PETER WILKINSON, the controversial civil servant who is paid £265,000 a year – 
considerably more than the Prime Minister – as director of rail passenger services at the 
Department for Transport, has been exposed by an investigation in The Guardian for an 
apparent conflict of interest.

Under the damning headline Civil Servant Gave Southern Rail To Client Of His Firm, Lucas 
Amin and Rob Evans revealed how Wilkinson, who ‘awarded struggling Southern Rail its 
franchise, made the decision to award the contract while owning a large share in a 
consultancy firm that had been advising its parent company.’Wilkinson played a key role in 
handing the Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern franchises on a plate to GTR in 2014. 
But he was, at the time, a director and the main shareholder of First Class Partnerships, a 
consultancy which had Govia as a longstanding client. Wilkinson was also involved in 
awarding a 15 year franchise – the Essex Thameside service – to C-2-C which, The Guardian revealed, had also paid handsomely for the services of First Class Partnerships.

According to The Guardian, an internal inquiry by D.f.T. officials concluded that Wilkinson 
had a ‘clear conflict of interest’. Wilkinson refused to comment. 

The last bastion of truth and integrity

HAVE never understood the politics of envy but always supported the ethos of aspiration, 
fairness, dignity and respect. As an organisation we have never subscribed to Margaret 
Thatcher’s claim that we are a society of individuals but have campaigned on all the issues 
that impact on us and our families, from the NHS to social care to dignity in retirement, 
education, and investment. This, of course, after we have undertaken the union’s primary role over terms and conditions, wages and safety. 

The 136 year history of this craft trade union is one we are rightly proud of, but I’m not sure 
those who are not in a union understand.

Polling and research shows people want a well-invested, safe and affordable green integrated railway that works for the travelling public, the taxpayer, the freight sector and those who work in it. Strange, then, when we raise issues affecting the freight sector and the future maintenance of our infrastructure, there is no government support and those stakeholders we speak to are incredibly reluctant to say publicly that they share our concerns. Well, we won’t shut up in the light of hundreds of job cuts and the government’s trite response that ‘the market will assert itself will come back and haunt them as confidence seeps from the sector.

Even odder, given the many messages of support we have received, is the media frenzy over 
the dispute on GTR/Southern. 

Where is the concern over a dishonourable employer ripping up agreements and dragging us 
to court? Where the concern over Peter Wilkinson’s claims in Croydon that he would orchestrate this dispute? We hear nothing from ministers about that. Nine months of court action and we eventually go on strike, and highlight the company’s reliance on our goodwill and overtime to run its service, and the whole world wants to end the right to strike! 

Desperate Tory MPs claim the strife their policies caused is political – the last refuge of the inept – while a baying media calls us anti-worker.

Trade unions are the last bastion of truth and industrial integrity in the UK. We fight to make 
the lives of our members, and their families, better. We will never apologise for that but we 
do empathise with those impacted by our action. And, every day, the solidarity and unity you show inspires me.

Yours fraternally

Mick Whelan 

General Secretary

Passengers blame Southern as train drivers strike again 

A.S.L.E.F. drivers on Southern Railways went on strike on Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th January in the continuing dispute over the company’s controversial decision – which rail industry experts say has backfired badly – to try and force through driver only 
operation across the region. Members, who voted overwhelmingly for action – 87.3% to 
strike, and 95.6% for industrial action short of a strike, on a turnout of 77% – have also not 
been working overtime since Tuesday 6th December.

The strikes closed the Southern network – the company was forced to plead with passengers 
not to travel – and an attempt to bus some commuters to stations on adjacent franchises, 
Southeastern and South West Trains, was also a flop, with rows of empty coaches parked up 
at stations.

Passengers explained on social media: ‘Why do I want to add another three- quarters of an 
hour to my journey each way? I want Southern to run the service it promised to provide. I 
want a guard on every train. It’s time the company sat down with the unions and did a deal.’
General Secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘We greatly regret the industrial action we have been 
forced to take. We don’t want to inconvenience passengers, nor do our members want to lose 
money, but we have been bullied by an intransigent management which has not been 
prepared to negotiate with us.’

District Organiser No. 1 Graham Morris said: ‘There is mass support among drivers for the 
strike, and morale is holding up well. The vast majority of passengers are still on side, too, 
because they want a second safety- critical role on the train they are taking.’ 

Anatomy of a strike

A.S.L.E.F. drivers on Southern Railways began taking industrial action in December. 

But the antecedents of this strike go back almost a year.

Keith Richmond examines the background to a bitter industrial dispute with no end in sight 

Last month as at the end of last year, Southern Railways ground to a halt. That is what 
happens when train drivers walk out. 

No driver, no train. A.S.L.E.F represents 96% of the train drivers in England, Scotland and 
Wales and members don’t cross picket lines. So when drivers go on strike – as on Tuesday 
13th, Wednesday 14th and Friday 16th December and then again on Tuesday 10th, 
Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th January – the train company is unable to provide the 
service it promised to deliver in its franchise application. Also, drivers have not been working overtime since Tuesday 6 December and, as Southern refuses to employ the number of drivers it knows it needs, it has been cancelling one in four services on non-strike days, too.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been left frustrated and, on occasion, bewildered. 
Most blame the hapless senior management at what commuters call Southern Failways; some blame Chris Grayling, and his predecessor at the Department for Transport, Patrick 
McLoughlin; very few blame the drivers, or their union, because they know this is not a strike for more money, a shorter working week, or better terms and conditions, but is action for the safety of the rail network. And the vast majority of passengers – 73% in a survey carried out by Opinium in May last year – want a guard on every train.

TRAIN DRIVERS ARE MUPPETS

This dispute began, effectively, one year ago, though officials at the D.f.T. and managers at 
G.T.R. had been planning it for some months before that. On 18 February 2016 Peter 
Wilkinson, a controversial figure who earns £265,000 a year as director of rail passenger 
services at the D.f.T., got up at a public meeting in Croydon, south London, hosted by 
Conservative MP Gavin Barwell, and said he was looking forward to ‘punch ups’ with trade 
unions over his plans to force through changes to rosters.

He said: ‘I’m furious and it has got to change – we have got to break them. They have all 
borrowed money to buy cars and got credit cards. They can’t afford to spend too long on 
strike and I will push them into that place. They will have to decide if they want to give a 
good service or get the hell out of my industry.’ Croydon councillor Jeet Bains tweeted: 
‘PeterWilkinson absolutely hammering train drivers. Called them muppets.’ Wilkinson’s 
comments were so bizarre that Sameena Rizwi was forced to deny claims that her boss was 
drunk when he got up to speak.

As well as his inflammatory language, Wilkinson told a string of porkies – claiming drivers 
earn £60,000 a year basic and have the same ‘fire break’ rest stops as when trains were run 
on coal – but he had, deliberately or inadvertently, revealed what he, the DfT, and GTR 
intended to do.

We wrote to Patrick McLoughlin seeking clarification of Wilkinson’s comments and asked if they reflected government policy. McLoughlin – who, like his Rail Minister Claire Perry, 
refused to meet us to hear our concerns – did not deny that Wilkinson was speaking for the 
government.

NO MORE D.O.O.

A.S.L.E.F. is opposed to driver only operation in all its forms, including driver controlled 
operation and driver door operation. 

We believe this method of operation is less safe for passengers, and staff, and we will not 
agree to the introduction and/or extension of D.O.O., D.C.O. or D.D.O. We will, however, 
honour agreements already in place even while we seek to change them.

Govia – a partnership between the British bus and train company Go Ahead (65%) and the 
French private sector transport operator Keolis (35%) – got a seven year contract in 2014. 
Having merged Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern it is the largest 
rail franchise in the UK.

It is not a conventional franchise, but a management contract, in which the government, not 
the company, takes all the financial risk – G.T.R. is paid to run the franchise and the 
government takes the fare box. That made it the perfect vehicle, Wilkinson told McLoughlin, to force through changes –’ we’re going to have punch ups and we will see industrial action and I want your support’ – because the company would not suffer a loss of revenue through industrial action.

In March G.T.R./Southern notified us of its intention to introduce 12-car D.O.O. on Gatwick 
Express on 9 April. We informed the company, our branches and reps, that there was no 
agreement between the company and the union for this nor had the company sought to 
negotiate its implementation with us.

On 9 April a member refused to drive the new formation Class 387 train as D.O.O. The 
company claimed we had induced members to breach their contracts and instructed us to 
inform drivers that they were contractually obliged to operate these new trains. Our members were clearly not contractually obliged to operate these trains and when we did not instruct our members the company sought an injunction against us, which the High Court granted on 22nd April, saying it regarded the communication of our understanding of agreements to members as ‘inducement’. We were required to notify members that they were expected to drive 12- car D.O.O. trains on Gatwick Express. The court did, however, acknowledge our right to campaign in a ballot for industrial action.

OVERWHELMING MANDATE

The result of that ballot, announced on 23rd May, was an overwhelming mandate for action 
but the company sought – and on 2nd June was granted – a further injunction, challenging 
the validity of the ballot on the grounds that it relied on our alleged inducement of its 
members. The High Court also instructed the General Secretary, Assistant General Secretary, Executive Committee and all representatives to hand over their electronic devices to be searched for evidence of inducement of members.

G.T.R. announced it was going to do the same on Southern and when last-ditch talks at head 
office on 17th October failed to resolve this dispute – the company refused to negotiate and 
would only dictate – we balloted drivers who again voted overwhelmingly – 87.3% on a 
turnout of 77% – to strike, with 95.6% voting for action short of a strike.

The company, which briefed journalists that ‘the law courts are not a happy hunting ground 
for the labour movement in Britain’ then took us to court. But the High Court, and then the 
Court of Appeal, both ruled that our strike is entirely lawful.

Peter Wilkinson, Patrick McLoughlin, Chris Grayling, the D.f.T. and G.T.R./Southern have all worked very hard to get where they felt they wanted to be. They are attacking us because they see train drivers, and their trade union, as the enemy. And passengers as collateral damage. 

A.S.L.E.F. drivers on Southern Railways have been asked to vote on a proposed resolution to our long running dispute with the company. The following question was put to members. 

‘Do you accept the attached agreement between G.T.R. and A.S.L.E.F.?’ 

Ballot papers were sent out on Thursday 16th March to be returned by Monday 3rd April.