21.04.2004

Behind closed doors

Aslef - www.aslef.org.uk

Things are a bit fraught at the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Fireman just lately. This last week has seen beleaguered Aslef general secretary Shaun Brady lose control of the union’s headquarters to the left-dominated executive. That Brady should find himself under siege in this fashion was always predictable. A quick glance over recent editions of the ‘quality’ press shows this is only the latest twist in a long-running saga.

The announcement of an independent inquiry into the union’s murky finances came shortly after the TUC’s Brendan Barber intervened in a clumsy dispute Brady initiated with the union’s full-time staff. He eventually had to climb down and apologise for his scandalous threats to derecognise their GMB branch and sack those who dared challenge his diktat.

Not that you would know any of this from Aslef’s website. Once again viewers are treated to a sterilised chunk of cyberspace bearing the characteristic hallmarks of corporate internet architecture. The main field is packed with features and news, starting off with a short introduction to the union. Next along is a scrolling news ticker linking to recent circulars - well, I say recent, but some items did go back to last October. Being charitable, you could say that this does have the advantage on saving those who are somewhat out the loop from having to trawl through the site for half-forgotten announcements.

Moving down the page, the first in a cluster of features links to the ‘Drive down the hours’ campaign. This is an attempt by Aslef to use the parliamentary machinery to set a legal limit on the hours worked by train drivers. So far just under 180 MPs have given their backing, and viewers are urged to contact their MP to try and enlist more support. Next is the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme, a response to government attempts to remove drivers’ right to claim compensation if involved in suicide or trespass. Again this campaign is focused on parliament, and urges all Aslef drivers to send union-designed postcards to their MPs, asking them to write to the minister responsible. ‘National pay bargaining’ looks at the splintering effects rail privatisation has had on collective bargaining, and makes the case for re-integrating it on a national basis. ‘Freight on rail’ conjures up the image of a pre-Christmas traffic jam to argue for the shift of freight from the roads to rail. Rather incongruously, the final feature here boasts of the ‘Car offer of the century’ - discounts of up to 26% on a new Rover are available to union members. The clincher has to be the £100 contribution Rover will make to the Aslef education fund for every car purchased.

The ‘News and views’ section leads with Royal Mail’s partial U-turn on freight, revealing that it is back in talks with a number of train operators. The next item marks the 20th anniversary of the miner’s Great Strike by giving a short potted history of Aslef’s involvement, and making available an anniversary badge. ‘Other news’ is an assortment of union and industry business, rounded off with an advert for Aslef’s “unique and stunning” ballroom (!).

This material is flanked to the right by a column of more features, headed by Brady’s very own sermon from the mount. In this month’s article brother Brady talks about women’s representation in the workplace and pays tribute to the union’s women’s consultative committee, as well as using the opportunity to stress his own anti-racist and anti-homophobic credentials. Viewers enamoured with Brady’s work will be pleased to see a small archive has been made available, including an interesting piece from Tribune where he sets out his stall as a “realist” and puts distance between himself and the ‘awkward squad’. The remaining features consist of miners’ commemorative pages, a memorandum on the ongoing internal audit, booklets, company by company information, the Loco Journal publication, and the (empty) members’ forum.

The ‘Organisation’ section of the navigation panel offers a fair introduction to Aslef, its political standpoints, and the relationship to other sections of the labour movement. I was, however, bemused when encountering an advert for last July’s ‘Save our party’ conference, featuring photos of Clem Attlee and John Smith! Unfortunately these pages are heavily sanitised - what members really need to be informed about goes on behind closed doors.

Anyway next week I shall take a look at trueaslef.com, the website run by Brady’s co-thinkers, and we will see whether or not it casts more light on Aslef’s internal affairs than the decidedly uninformative official site.