Heads Roll in the UK Unions

In our last article when we looked at what has been happening in the UK trade unions we pointed out that the then leftist leader of Aslef (the Train drivers union) Mick Rix was not elected again. Rix had been the only other trade union leader who was a member of Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party. Although a Blairite, Shaun Brady, whose “power base” is in the South East of England, won, less than half of the 15,500 members of Aslef bothered to vote. Crises of various kinds were growing within Aslef, and some were voting with their feet. Union bureaucrats were using their connections within the labour movement to secure themselves other jobs, especially with the TGWU (Transport & General Workers Union), and some train drivers were finding their own ways of establishing links across categories within the rail industry by joining RMT (Railways, maritime and transport union). RMT has other categories in the rail industry, such as train guards, amongst its membership.

We have previously concentrated on the trade unions as being state registered and regulated bodies, tied to capitalism and its state. In this article we shall also have the opportunity to look at other aspects of these unions, as employers and financial institutions. As always a distinction needs to be made between the interests of the workers, as union members, and those of the bureaucrats who run the unions. It is precisely the economic conflicts that the workers find themselves in that interests us, and not the petty machinations of those scrabbling for top jobs in the union hierarchies.

The events in Aslef were a conflict between Right and left wing factions, but it was also a conflict between the post of General Secretary and that of the union’s Executive Committee (EC). Democracy is kicked around as being a wonderful, fundamental principle, but at the end of the day it depends upon which form of democracy is being advocated.

There were so many accusations of fraud, incompetence, sabotage, etc, that the EC of Aslef brought in a leading Barrister, Matthias Kelly QC, to investigate, interview anybody relevant, and report back. Now QCs are costly (Queen’s Counsellors on taking up their appointment are said to have “taken silk”) and their reports are supposedly balanced, thoughtful and respected. “I recognise that the union belongs to the members and not to any officer or body” so states the eminent QC in his Report for the EC of Aslef. However, just let the workers try asserting themselves against the bureaucrats, and they will soon see how little democracy is worth!

Brady takes over as General Secretary

In what Kelly QC puts down as a state of paranoia, the incoming General Secretary believed that a “scorched earth” policy was being conducted against him. Some of the officers had resigned, whether taking up new jobs, or just clearing off, left Brady with the impression that a conspiracy was afoot. Severance payments had been made in some cases, and accusations of fraudulent goings-on were being hinted at. The usual clearing of old files on computers (known as housekeeping) led to computer experts being brought in to crack passwords, and check the IT system. The apartment that Rix had been allowed to occupy, and Brady had said he didn’t need, had been allocated to the caretaker – this Brady took as being directed against him, and he wanted the caretaker throwing out. All this smacked of a new Manager coming in to “sort all the workers out”.

Brady took it upon himself to have his own internal investigation carried out. Paul Blagbrough was asked by the new General Secretary to carry out a review of the financial affairs and administration of Aslef. Severance payments to the out-going general secretary, Rix, and his partner, were under fire. The draft of the Blagburgh report, dated March 2004, marked as a draft and confidential, was removed by an ally of Brady and given to the “Mail on Sunday”. This right-wing newspaper had a field day “exposing” the supposed internal affairs of Aslef. It was as a result of the newspaper “exposure” that the EC commissioned the report by Kelly QC. During April and May 2004 Brady refused to cooperate with the Kelly Inquiry. The Kelly Report was presented to Aslef at the end of June 2004 and seemed to have cleared everybody, except the “uncooperative” Brady. No financial mismanagement was found – and a relieved Rix was happy about being exonerated.

Discontent amongst the office staff

Unsurprisingly the workers in Aslef’s headquarters were concerned about what was going to happen. There was a fear of bullying and harassment, which led to a sudden increase in sick leave. Members of GMB (General Municipal and Boilermakers union), who organise the office workers, issued a notice about balloting for strike action. Brady then wrote to all 40 members of staff, at their home addresses, on 29^th December 2003 spelling out what would happen if they dared to take any form of strike action.

Brady wrote that should any form of strike action be taken, this would be regarded as a breach of contract. The GMB would be de-recognised. If any employee is regarded, in the first eight weeks of the strike, as having previously committed acts of Gross Misconduct then they will be dismissed straightaway. All Annual Leave would be cancelled, no sick pay payable, childcare vouchers no longer issued. After 8 weeks and one day of the first strike day all the rest of those who took part in the strike would be dismissed – this is allowable in employment law. New staff would be employed who would not be allowed to be members of GMB. The new employees would have individual contracts, and be members of the ASLEF Staff Association “in line with the practice of other rail unions”.

TUC intervenes

At this point the Trades Union Congress (TUC) intervened to try to improve internal industrial relations at Aslef. The TUC acted just as it would for any employer, in order to contain an industrial dispute.

Following a meeting between TUC general secretary Brendan “Demon” Barber, and officials from Aslef and GMB, agreement was on resolving the internal problems. Brady withdrew the letter to GMB members and GMB agreed not to initiate industrial action until talks took place. Well of course Brady agreed to withdraw his threats to the workers, because the threat of strike action itself was withdrawn!

This was not the first time that “Demon” Barber of the TUC had to speak to Brady of Aslef about inter-union rivalries. On the Metrolink tramway system in Manchester Aslef had been for some years recruiting the tram drivers into their union. Eighty out of the hundred and fifty tram drivers had joined Aslef. Aslef was pressing for union recognition, and the right to negotiate over pay and conditions. Metrolink already had a single-union agreement with TGWU, which they preferred, and would stick to. Metrolink bosses were happy with the agreement with TGWU because they were not involved in inter-union rivalry to force up wage rates.

The same issues had arisen two years before when the TUC had received assurance from the previous Aslef leadership that they would respect the TGWU single-union agreement. Now the Aslef leadership was proving to be uncooperative, Brady being regarded as “too light-weight”, not up to the job – in other words… trouble. When such impressions take root it isn’t long before the person concerned has to go.

The state of Brady’s supposed paranoia was growing. He wasn’t given access to finance, conflict between the General Secretary and the Executive Committee was increasing, internal investigations grew apace, and sooner or later a showdown would take place. Sooner or later it would be established – who run the union, the General Secretary or the Executive Committee.

Fisticuffs at a barbecue

In May 2004 a barbecue was held on the terrace of Aslef’s Hampstead premises. An argument took place in which Aslef’s President Martin Samways was accused of hitting a female officer of the union. Brady moved in to restrain him and they both ended up in a wrestling match in a flowerbed. Samways denied deliberately striking the female officer. Three senior officials of Aslef were immediately suspended pending an enquiry.

The Executive Committee found itself to be in complete charge of the affairs of Aslef. As the directing body of the Union, they are ultimately the employers of the senior Officials. Employers have always found it to be a useful exercise in suspending, and dismissing, all those involved in fighting, and so not being bothered with who caused the problems, and who was “innocently” caught up in events. Then the dismissals can be argued to be “fair”.

There is only one body within Alsef which could challenge the authority of the Executive Committee and that is the Annual Conference. The next Annual Conference was due to be held in Scarborough in June 2004, and because of the conflict going on within the top levels of the union, this was deferred until the autumn.

An independent three-person panel investigated the fracas at the barbecue and concluded that the behaviour of Samways was “wholly unacceptable”. The internal report concluded that the union was “highly factionalised” and urged members to stamp out what was called a “self-destructive culture”. Samways admitted his mistake and resigned as President of Aslef.

An attempted putsch

Brady now considered that a left-wing coup had been carried out against “the membership” and himself. The logical next step was to try and call for the Annual Conference to meet immediately and overturn the control of the Executive Committee. Brady concluded that if two-thirds of the delegates gathered together they could declare themselves to be quorate, and therefore legally the Conference of Aslef. This was supposed to take place on Monday 7^th June, the day in which the Conference in Scarborough should have taken place. In the end only a third of the delegates assembled, and there could be no pretence that this was the conference of Aslef.

After two hours about forty of the sixty train drivers assembling in a local pub decided to march on Aslef’s offices. They found the premises in Arkwright Road locked and barred, with CCTV cameras recording events. They were not going to be allowed into the premises, the former residence of the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, but a three-man delegation could go in to express their opinions. This was refused, and after an hour the protesters shuffled away making comments about the Kremlin.

“Demon” Barber of the TUC had called top-level meetings to try to bring some sort of order into Aslef’s affairs. He had a meeting with Brady and a severance package of a year’s salary (£65,000) was offered if he went quietly. Brady appears to do nothing quietly.

Brady was dismissed in August 2004 after refusing to cooperate with the Kelly Inquiry. At the September Conference two-thirds of the delegates voted against discussing the case. Brady’s appeal was heard in November by an appeals committee, appointed independently of the Executive Committee and composed of representatives of the eight districts of Aslef. The appeals committee rejected his appeal.

The “Brady Bunch”, as dubbed by the EC, ended up by breaking away from Aslef and “some dozens” have formed an Associated Train Crew Union at the beginning of 2005. It was recently announced that Brady had given up train driving and become a publican.

Bullying and Harassment in the GMB

The threats to GMB members, who were employed by Aslef, wasn’t greeted with a sense of shock and horror by officialdom within the unions. Bullying and harassment had been the stock-in-trade of union management for such a long time. Indeed the GMB could hardly take this up as a matter of proletarian principle because the GMB leader in Scotland had previously been found guilty of sexual harassment of female staff. This leader was not even suspended from his job, but finally went with a golden handshake.

An election took place for the post of General Secretary of GMB during 2003. The winning candidate, Kevin Curran, with two-thirds of the vote cast, had stated as policy aims the ending of the bullying culture within the GMB and reviewing the relationship between the union and the Labour Party. Curran’s running mate for the position of Deputy General Secretary, Debbie Coulter, was also elected. Curran’s opponent, Paul Kenny, was the London regional Secretary – and both candidates confined themselves to regional issues.

Curran, as the chief official in the North of England, had powerful backing from regional officials, which undoubtedly helped to secure his victory. There was no internal campaign against bullying and harassment within the GMB from the new General Secretary when a Lancashire official was named as guilty of victimising and harassing a female officer of the union. The fact that this same official was a key ally of Kevin Curran within the GMB cannot be ignored.

More than a dozen GMB members made complaints about the conduct of the Curran – Coulter election campaign and the union held its own investigation. The complaints were upheld and the Government’s Certification Officer ordered the GMB to rerun the election, at least for the position of Deputy General Secretary. Age limit rules for standing for positions were afterwards considered to be discriminatory. Coulter won the re-run election, and became a member of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee.

Curran was inheriting a union hierarchy in a financial crisis. Membership was down to just over half a million, mainly because of the decline of manufacturing industry, with debts having grown to a reported £30 million. “A detailed plan of action and investment in membership” is urgently needed stated Labournet, an internet site for trade union activists. “Kevin Curran will need the active support of the whole union to turn our decline around” so continued Labournet. Although Labournet carried the story of the bullying and harassment of GMB in Scotland, its emphasise was on the financial cost to the GMB rather than the personal effect it had on the female staff of the union. We can see where the priorities of these “trade union activists” lie.

During 2004 Curran maintained a high profile over funding from GMB to the Labour Party and a corresponding low profile over the treatment of female employees of the union. The emphasise on reviewing the relationship with the Blairite New Labour led The Times to dub Curran as the wild card in the trade union pack.

Rather than being a wild leftie Curran had been a staunch Labour loyalist. He accepted the Blairite promises to keep Government spending down to the previous Tory Government’s limits. Curran had some vague hope that a second Labour victory would then release radical energy that would transform society in a dramatic fashion. This of course would not happen. There never was any intention by the Labour Government to edge itself over to the left.

The Trade Unions and Labour Party Election “Compromise”

Labour Party officials began to prepare for an election in 2005. Support, both moral and financial, was being asked of the Trade Unions. To this end a Labour Party “Forum” took place at Warwick University during the summer of 2004. On the basis of continuing financial support from the unions a “compromise” of better workers rights was supposedly agreed. There were also pledges on the unions being consulted on government initiatives. Some Trade Union leaders went away smiling happily. Unsurprisingly, no such workers rights materialised. The “Warwick Agreement” was at best a sham.

Even before the Warwick Forum took place the GMB decided to donate £0 to the labour Party for additional financial expenses. Whether this was connected to the internal financial crisis in the GMB is not clear. It would however continue to provide funds Labour MPs who “share the GMB’s aims and values”. The number of Labour MPs who could be supported was wider than the existing 130 strong GMB-backed group of MPs.

“I could not ask GMB members to maintain their relationship with the Labour Party if midway through the third term of a Labour Government there was still no sign of the party addressing the concerns of GMB members” stated Curran. In an interview with The Times Curran stated what he was looking for a Labour Government third-term to deliver: a higher minimum wage, renationalise the railways and reversal of the Thatcherite legislation against secondary strikes.

Curran is regarded by some as a supporter of Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the likely successor to Blair as Prime Minister. The trade union leaders who are calling for an early, and well organised, hand-over to Gordon Brown are preparing the way for their own lucrative rewards.

Red Pepper, a trendy radical publication, carried an interview with Curran in its October 2004 edition. Curran was projected as a man with a long-term game plan. He was moving away from Labour officialdom and embracing social issues. Curran spends a lot of time speaking at public meetings and conferences, on everything from racism to social housing. Curran’s approach is more the defence of the public sector, rather than the defence of the workers. Red Pepper concluded: “For the moment, therefore, it’s a matter of pushing the existing structures of the Labour party to the limits. But you get the sense that after the election, whatever happens, a new phase in the game plan will open up”. Well, the “game plan” ended up with a novel twist.

Ballot Rigging Claims Against Curran Surface Again

The financial crisis within the GMB now needed to be addressed by Curran. The cost of the “administration” was taking up 70% of the income of the union. Like all financial institutions the only solution is to maximise income or cut costs. Curran went for the cutting of costs, which included lower pensions for GMB employees. This would have to be enforced against the regional organisation of the GMB, and against the very power-base which had elected him.

By mid-December 2004 more allegations of vote-rigging had been made against Curran. Accusations were being made that ballot papers for dead and lapsed members had been diverted to “safe-houses” so that they could be used to tip the balance in Curran’s favour. Further cases of sex discrimination by union employees were going before employment tribunals, and efforts were being made in one of them to prevent the accusation of ballot-rigging being aired publicly. In the end accusations of illegal acts in the 2003 election were made under oath at a tribunal.

The GMB’s General Purposes Committee decided to hold an investigation, by an “independent” person, into the 2003 election. Curran denied any wrong-doings and declared that accusations had been made against him because of his attempts to implement change in the GMB.

In March 2005 the GMB’s Central Executive Council “reluctantly” decided to suspend Curran until the independent investigation was finished and the report had been presented to the union. Within a month Curran had resigned as General Secretary after agreeing to an “amicable settlement” with the union. Subsequently the defeated candidate in the 2003 election, Paul Kenny, was appointed as the Acting General Secretary of the GMB.

Fire Brigade Leader is Ousted

The Fire Brigades Union [FBU], who conducted a series of strikes for a 40% pay claim during 2002/3, ended up voting for a compromise pay deal of 16% over a two and a half year period. There had been criticisms of the General Secretary of the FBU, Andy Gilchrist, over his management of the strikes, and his inability to get a better deal out of the Government. The post of General Secretary came up for election in the spring of 2005, and on a 40% turnout, Gilchrist was defeated by Matthew Wrack, the former London organiser of the FBU by a margin of almost two to one. This was an expression of the hostility of the rank and file firemen against all the deals and compromises Gilchrist had entered into during the recent strikes.

Many of the attacks upon the conditions of the Fire Brigade workers had been on those who go out on the emergency calls, and involved closing down of fire stations, shift changes, and working payments for public holidays. Now the control centre staff are under attack. Government plans are being advanced for combining emergency services, police, fire brigades and ambulances, into the same centres. There is much resentment and suspicion about what will happen when such reorganisations are forced through.

The thought of entering further fights with Gilchrist as the FBU leader has undoubtedly been one of the reasons why he was not elected. To succeed the Fire Fighters need not only a different leader, but also a new strategy: of joining forces with other workers in struggle and developing links with others workers, and sectors, in struggle.