• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Is your Drivers' Company Council any good?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Efini92

Established Member
Joined
14 Dec 2016
Messages
1,719
A few rotten eggs are the problem with ASLEF. There’s nothing wrong with the wider union.
The general secretary needs to go as does the full time officer for district 4.
IMO the AGS does a great job.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

whoosh

Established Member
Joined
3 Sep 2008
Messages
1,361
The Assistant General Secretary does come across to me as being very good. I voted for him in the ballot for General Secretary.

I might write a lot more about the subject of the Union when I have more time - standby...!
 

keep truckin

Member
Joined
1 Oct 2013
Messages
47
Personally, I'd like my union to support better opportunities for all regardless of demographic, creed or how rich their parents are. Just take a look outside the railway & see how many dead end jobs there are. And also, if they're against injustice, racism & suffering anywhere in the world then that's good.

This doesn't make me 'far left'. Which sounds like a construct straight out of some nasty tabloid rag, whose owners probably have every financial interest in having certain people holding the strings of power.

Too much of a 'me me me' attitude I see off some drivers with a few quid in their pocket. The current Covid 19 situation illustrates how we don't live in a bubble & issues such as pandemics, threat of nuclear war & climate change are very real. Cooperation amongst nations is key. If it wasn't all about greed, maybe there would have been stockpiles of PPE for the NHS, which would have saved lives (the warnings were there). As I say, in my view this current pandemic is a warning. Next disaster could be worse.

I'm not saying that the system should be over hauled, just tweaked to benefit the general populations worldwide. And if my union supports these issues I've raised, I'm all for it as its an interconnected world.
 

StevieH

Member
Joined
18 Mar 2020
Messages
104
Location
Stoke
If things are so bad that members feel scared to go to meetings and that even the local level reps aren’t effectively representing them (and I don’t doubt that there are branches like that!), then the obvious (and probably only) answer is to find someone prepared to stand against them when their terms are up. It’s still not without its potential drama, but with more engagement and support from the branch as a whole, it’d be a positive step.
I'm afraid this is wishful thinking alas.

Ok we get the local branch to reject the poisonous extreme views of the top brass. They will be viewed as a rebel group to be made an example of and crushed.

If you manage to overcome that and take over the entire union root and branch and get it to put all its efforts into solely getting the best rates and working conditions for it's members, instead of lecturing 99% of its membership on the absurd and evil social construct of white privilege theory, smashing the evil patriarchy and supporting BLM which has murdered 40 people in the last couple of months and battered to a pulp countless others and burnt people's property to the ground. Then the TUC would set it's sights on ASLEF for committing wrongthink.

You know it, we all know it and 99.9% of people just want an easy life and be left alone so won't put their heads above the parapet to change it.
 

Economist

Member
Joined
24 Feb 2013
Messages
508
Members should never be afraid to go to meetings, if the local atmosphere is that bad then the higher ups need to be getting involved and sorting it out.

I think one of the things that needs to be introduced is a hospitality register, whereby any hospitality that senior ASLEF reps (Company Council and above) receive from TOCs etc. needs to be logged and the records available for the local membership to see. I know that at least one TOC tries to butter up the Company Council with negotiations in posh restaurants and hotels and this needs to be transparent. Ideally at the moment it should be over a video conference with a takeaway ordered in.
 

Scottychoo

Member
Joined
10 Dec 2018
Messages
129
ASLEF is just a union. It exists to look after its members locally. It is not a political body that should concern itself in the worlds problems. The sooner the people at the top realise that then the better for all its members.
 

43066

Established Member
Joined
24 Nov 2019
Messages
9,217
Location
London
I'd like my union to support better opportunities for all regardless of demographic, creed or how rich their parents are. Just take a look outside the railway & see how many dead end jobs there are. And also, if they're against injustice, racism & suffering anywhere in the world then that's good.

This doesn't make me 'far left'. Which sounds like a construct straight out of some nasty tabloid rag, whose owners probably have every financial interest in having certain people holding the strings of power.

Really?! The world’s smallest violin plays for those people. The leftie bullcrap is for the birds.

I’d like my union to allow me to continue drinking tea, and driving trains, for a decent salary. That’s where it ends.
 
Last edited:

Bellbell

Member
Joined
16 Oct 2013
Messages
245
Members should never be afraid to go to meetings, if the local atmosphere is that bad then the higher ups need to be getting involved and sorting it out.

I think one of the things that needs to be introduced is a hospitality register, whereby any hospitality that senior ASLEF reps (Company Council and above) receive from TOCs etc. needs to be logged and the records available for the local membership to see. I know that at least one TOC tries to butter up the Company Council with negotiations in posh restaurants and hotels and this needs to be transparent. Ideally at the moment it should be over a video conference with a takeaway ordered in.

I agree with this. I'm broadly happy with the local reps and company council at my toc but there are big challenges on the horizon and it will be interesting to see how they perform there. In any kind of interaction like that between union and management members deserve to have an understanding of the environment in which the talks take place.

One criticism of ours I would have is that it's hard to get hold of copies of the agreements and without those it's difficult for us 'regular' drivers to push back against breaches of them.
 

keep truckin

Member
Joined
1 Oct 2013
Messages
47
Really?! The world’s smallest violin plays for those people. The leftie bullcrap is for the birds.

I’d like my union to allow me to continue drinking tea, and driving trains, for a decent salary. That’s where it ends.

Wow, truly dazzled with the phenomenal level of intellect in your reply!

My point is that if the general populations rights & opportunities are enhanced, & if in some small way my union supports this, then that is in the interest of all of us as we don't live in a bubble. For example, more unionised workplaces for others & perhaps nurses not having to go to food banks, benefits ourselves & future generations.

Not sure why people get so snowflakey triggered by this! I'm not saying take your subs & give it to someone else, just a bit of solidarity for better opportunities for current & future generations. Some tweaks in the system for the better not "commy" or "lefty" or any other daft curse words people throw about.
 

43066

Established Member
Joined
24 Nov 2019
Messages
9,217
Location
London
Wow, truly dazzled with the phenomenal level of intellect in your reply!

When you’ve got it, you don’t need to flaunt it.


My point is that if the general populations rights & opportunities are enhanced, & if in some small way my union supports this then that is in the interest of all of us. As we don't live in a bubble. For example, more unionised workplaces for others & perhaps nurses not having to go to food banks, benefits ourselves & future generations.

Not sure why people get so snowflakey triggered by this! I'm not saying take your subs & give it to someone else.

Don’t disagree, but I’m done arguing on here for tonight. Enjoy.
 

keep truckin

Member
Joined
1 Oct 2013
Messages
47
When you’ve got it, you don’t need to flaunt it.




Don’t disagree, but I’m done arguing on here for tonight. Enjoy.

Enjoy the footy mate & have a cold one on me. Religion & politics always cause a fight lol.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top