Privatisation began in 1994 and ended in 1997. Since then we have had 13 years of Labour, 5 years of Coalition and 7 years of Conservative Government.
Since privatisation - particularly over the past decade - driver pay has substantially increased; drivers at the highest paying TOCs are now in the top 10% of earners - with a bit of overtime we're pushing into the fabled 5%. Hand in hand with this we've seen T&Cs either maintained or improved, be it our pensions, working week, or various other allowances.
The overwhelming majority of these increases have been...under coalition or Conservative governments.
It does beg the question what political influence are we actually buying with our 'sponsored' Labour MPs? In reality, of course, the answer is close to none. Indeed, the chair of the ASLEF 'group', Kelvin Hopkins, is not standing for re-election and I'm not even convinced ASLEF itself puts too much emphasis on its Parliamentary influence, as one of the MPs listed on the website as being part of the group, Dave Anderson, stood down in 2017.
The excellent pay and T&Cs we enjoy is because the Union knows the industry; it knows how and most importantly when to squeeze management to extract the most generous terms for its members, as well as promote the role as a highly skilled and professional one, deserving of recognition as such. This is nothing to do with Parliamentary influence, and all to do with the work put in by front-line reps.
I'll happily pay whatever I do to fund the work ASLEF puts in for me and my colleagues. I would consider industrial action in suitable circumstances. I have no interest whatsoever in propping up the Labour Party.