EJRA is something that sticks in my throat, and the fact that it came from the union and not the company really makes me furious. I've heard ASLEF's official and unofficial lines on EJRA and many other justifications besides, but I don't buy a single one of them. I've had discussions and even arguments about it, including one with our company council rep who told me that it was his job to "sell" EJRA to us yet couldn't produce cogent answers to my questions and ended up saying in exasperation "Well if you don't like it, don't vote for it" before vetoing any further conversation on the matter.
Effectively what it boils down to is legally protected age discrimination. For a union to take this route when it stands foursquare against all other types of discrimination boggles the mind. The law allows a worker to decide for him/herself when they take retirement and ASLEF, a trades union body that claims to represent the interests of a certain group of workers, is setting out to remove that right. If your colleagues vote EJRA through, when you get towards state pension age you will be served notice by your employer and you will be retired, something that a few of my colleagues who did vote it through were surprised to learn after the event (I think they thought that it wouldn't actually work like that).
I'm interested to hear that EJRA on the railway has already been tested in the courts and wonder on what grounds the actions were brought. My own personal feeling is that ASLEF hasn't really made a very good case for it and is relying solely on the unthinking herd mentality of a lot of their membership to get it through. As it's name suggests, it's employment justified retirement age which means that there should be some aspect of the job that you do that means that as you age your ability to discharge your duties diminishes to the point where you are no longer able to do it. ASLEF's official line on it doesn't really address this and focuses instead on dignity for ageing workers, saving them from the aggravation of having to prove their fitness and competence, integrity of the pension scheme, workforce planning and diversity in the workforce (something that is outside the union's ambit anyway, as recruitment is driven by the employers).
The reason we're not seeing EJRA rolling out across the entire industry is, I understand, because ASLEF themselves realise that this is a hot potato and that it could lead to claims for age discrimination. That being the case, each company's council has been instructed to raise the issue but to expect that not all companies will want to pursue the policy.
For myself, I'm now operating a "three strikes and out" policy with ASLEF and I'm already up to two strikes, of which EJRA is one. I'm just waiting for them to pull one more daft stunt like this and I'll be off. It does annoy me that there is so much uncritical thinking among the grade when it comes to the union's recommendations and that there are so many who are happy to swallow their dogma and just go along with it "because ASLEF recommends acceptance, and they represent me". That we have such monstrous injustices as EJRA within the industry is due solely to there having been more people vote yes than no. Of course I understand that's how democracy works, but I do wish that there was more critical appraisal before casting a ballot.
- something which will screw over longstanding members, who have paid into the union for decades, and who perhaps can’t afford to retire due to their personal circumstances.
