All Out, Bruvers!

Were you angry at the train drivers from South West Trains today? Did it affect your journey from A - B? The picketing members of ASLEF were handing out flyers to approximately 80 potential passengers who thought trains would be running from Strawberry Hill station. So, I've decided to re-publish the contents of this flyer in full, because it's something you won't read in the Evening Standard.

"Why are we on strike?

Roots of the dispute: The conflict began with a local dispute in Waterloo, where there was a disagreement over the company providing taxis for drivers on early and late duties. This could have been easily settled, but we believe management engineered a dispute. During the resulting action, SWT drafted in managers to drive trains.

This was in direct contravention of an existing agreement which says managers will only drive trains in cases of health, safety or the possibility of civil unrest. The union was also concerned at the safety risks: one manager, although technically competent, had not driven a train alone for a decade.

The union accuses the company of being more concerned with scoring industrial relations points than with the safety of passengers.

The dispute was then inflamed when it was shown that SWT was bringing in managers to drive trains from as far away as Bournemouth - and, to add insult to injury, fetched them in by taxi!

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2002 Agreement:

Here is the relevant clause from the 2002 agreement:

In other exceptional circumstances when the overall risk to the business is such that the cancellation of a train might risk public disorder for example, then when all other alternatives have been exhausted a competent manager will be used if available. The kind of circumstances I would envisage are these:-

a) It is the last train of the day

b) No alternative transport can be arranged, including if appropriate buses / taxis

c) Cancellation of the train might result in public disorder (football supporters on a train, for example)

If none of the above clauses in section 1 - 5 are applicable then the train will be cancelled if no Driver is available.

I trust the above makes the position clear.

A TESTING TIME

It is interesting that since the union informed the company of the ballot result, SWT has only approached the union to make legal threats - and not to seek discussions aimed at resolving the dispute. The company has made no attempt to reach an agreement which would enable a full service to run on Tuesday. This is practically unprecedented. The union believes that SWT wants this dispute.

WE HONOUR AGREEMENTS WE MAKE WITH SOUTH WEST TRAINS, ALL WE ASK IS THAT SOUTH WEST TRAINS DO THE SAME."

So there you have it playmates, an alternative view to what certain media types would like you to read or hear about.

Bon Voyage!