In case anyone missed it Rich S left a comment on my last post and this bit stood out.

“Personally, I'm not sure that management don't care. In a former life, I used to have to deal with trade union representatives and on the whole I found them to be confrontational and ready at the drop of a hat to cause aggravation. The purpose of them I thought was to look after the best interest of their members.

I often wonder how so many people accept the likes of Bob Crow et al as their representative. Most are forced to for fear of intimidation.”

Shall we recap…..

2010.  Management declare that as Boxing Day is on a Sunday it is a normal working day and we will be running a full Sunday service with half the TOps working where previously we only used 1 in 4.  They refuse to talk until November despite repeated requests from ASLEF to discuss the issue.  We go on strike.

2011. Boxing Day is on a weekday so we’re back down to 1 in 4 but management still refuse to negotiate the issue until November and then say there is nothing to discuss.  We go on strike but call off the three additional days when LUL promise “meaningful talks” that never materialise.

2012, Boxing Day is on a weekday, 1 in 4 again, management refuse to talk until November, blah, blah, blah.....

Is that management "caring" and ASLEF being “confrontational”?

When I was on stations I was a health and safety rep and with a few notable exceptions I found management to be ignorant, complacent and uninterested. Most of the issues I raised at meetings had already been brought to management’s attention by my members, their employees, and only came to me when they failed to deal with them.  I tried to look out for my members’ interests when they displayed indifference and quite possibly they viewed me as “confrontational” for doing so.

Bob Crow got to be where he is because the RMT membership voted him in and since becoming Gen Sec the membership has risen from around 50,000 to over 80,000 so whatever he’s doing appeals to transport workers across the UK.  Or did they join RMT through “intimidation”?

The ASLEF members voted for strike action, about 10 to 1 in favour, no one twisted our arms.  Actually I just discovered I didn’t vote at all, I’ve just found the envelope in my pocket, I must have been so zonked out on painkillers I forgot to post it.  Whoops.