Aslef of Arabia

I've been writing about 'Aslef of Arabia' for years, but I was interested in this article from The Herald which says that the trade union now supports all-women recruitment lists to fill Scottish train driver jobs.

Just one thing that puzzles me though which is the practice of advertising all job vacancies internally in the first instance, instead of advertising internally and externally at the same time. 

Now my understanding is that this opposition to simultaneous internal and external advertising is standard practice across the rail industry, at the insistence of the trade unions, who demand that their existing members to be given 'first bite at the cherry' as far as new job vacancies are concerned.

Which would also help to explain why there are so few women working in the rail industry.

Because as well as middle-aged, male managers conducting the interviews, the practice of internal advertising first is a way of ensuring that there is a restricted pool of predominantly male candidates who are first in line for the better, more attractive  jobs.

So by all means have all-women recruitment lists, but this will only have a significant effect if, at the same time, the industry introduces simultaneous internal and external advertising for all vacant posts.

  

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15497938.Demand_for_all_women_recruitment_lists_for_Scottish_train_driver_jobs

Demand for all-women recruitment lists for Scottish train driver jobs

By Andrew Whitaker - The Herald


Abellio ScotRail train

WOMEN-ONLY shortlists to recruit train drivers should be introduced to boost "pitiful" female representation in a male dominated industry, campaigners have said.

The call came after it was revealed that just 4 per cent of train drivers are women in Scotland.

Women hold just 62 out of the 1,566 posts in Scotland, according to the train drivers' union Aslef.

Scotland's figure of 4 per cent for women rail drivers was lower than a rate of 6 per cent for the UK as a whole.

There was also only one female freight driver out of 154 in Scotland. The figure means just 0.6 per cent of freight drivers in Scotland are women compared to a UK-wide figure of 1.5 per cent.

Aslef has raised the "woefully low number" of female train drivers in a resolution submitted to the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) women’s conference on October 31.

However, Aslef's Scottish secretary Kevin Lindsay said rail companies should adopt all women shortlists to redress the balance.

Lindsay said the lack of women train drivers was caused mainly by male managers repeatedly hiring men.

He said: "It's hugely concerning that Scotland has got the worst percentage in the UK. It's a shocking figure, but it's because of the recruitment policies of the companies and we're trying to get them to address that.

"But the real problem is that a lot of the people doing the interviewing give jobs to people like themselves and you often have middle aged men who do the interviews.

"The number of female drivers is pitiful. The company should consider positive action. Only all women shortlists can address this issue."

Meanwhile, Aslef's resolution to the STUC states: “That this Conference is shocked to learn that in Scotland there is only one female train driver working in the freight sector. This woefully low number is not acceptable in 21st century society.

"Whilst freight has never attracted high numbers of female drivers, they have increased in England and Wales leaving Scotland trailing behind."

Women Drivers (27/12/11)

I decided to have another look at the position of women members in the train drivers trade union ASLEF - see post dated December 27th 2011 - 'Song Remains the Same'.

Now almost ten years on from my original article - for one of the Sunday newspapers - there has been some progress - of sorts you could say.

But the pace of change is embarrassingly slow - things are moving along at a snail's pace - rather than the speed of a sleek high-speed train.

Because in 2002 the figures recorded by the TUC for ASLEF showed:

ASLEF 2002
Total members - 15,553
Men - 15,180 (97.6%)
Women - 373 (2.4%)

But almost ten years on the latest TUC figures now show:

ASLEF 2011
Total members - 18,532
Men - 17,866 (96.3%)
Women - 666 (3.7%)

So while the percentage of women members in 2002 was a lowly 2.4% - almost 10 years later it 'climbed' to an underwhelming 3.7%.

In that decade ASLEF's women membership rose by 293 (from 373 to 666) - yet the number of men in the union also increased - by 2,686 (from 15,180 to 17,866).

Of the total increase in ASLEF's membership - 2979 (from 15,553 to 18,532) - 9.8% were women (293) while 91.2% were men.

Now this is not a complete picture of course - because not every worker is necessarily a member of the trade union, ASLEF.

But what it does tell you is that there is something far wrong with the recruitment practices in the rail industry - because these are some of the best paid jobs in the country - yet women drivers are about as rare as hen's teeth.

If the rail industry has been trying to achieve a better balanced workforce over the past 10 years - trying to attract more women - then it has failed miserably.

And so has ASLEF it has to be said - because there are lots of women out there doing very demanding and responsible jobs - who would gladly drive a train for a salary worth around £50,000 a year.

No doubt the employers and the trade unions will say - that they are both fully committed to equality issues and equal opportunities in the rail industry.

But if that's the case then how come 9 men have been recruited for every woman - over the past ten years? 

The answer is that a 'hidden hand' is at work - one that is keeping women out of this highly unionised and well-paid  workforce.

And that is something about which both the employers and the trade unions - should be deeply ashamed.

'Aslef of Arabia' (29/12/11)

A number of readers have been in touch to ask where the 'We the Women'  picture came from - to accompany the post about women drivers - dated 27 December 2011.

Well  it comes from people campaigning in Saudi Arabia - against the ban on women driving cars and other motor vehicles - public or private.

According to the Saudi authorities it's against Islamic teaching that women should drive cars - never mind trains - it's against the law of the land.

Any women caught doing so - by the religious police - are liable to be severely punished.

But all hope is not lost - because people are fighting back - with courage, wit and humour.

By arguing that it's ridiculous and even anti-Islamic - to suggest that God somehow proclaimed that women can't drive.

'We the Women' is their campaign slogan.

And the campaigners think of all kinds of ways to illustrate how crazy it is - to ordain that women can use washing machines or mobile phone or computers - but not cars (or trains for that matter).

Some women have taken to dressing up in male clothes and wearing false moustaches - to ridicule the authorities - but as the law stand women still need a man to drive them around.

Apparently a father, brother, son - or just about any old male relative will do - which seems bizarre. 

Now to look at the statistics on the number of women train drivers in this country - or the number of women members in Aslef - you'd be forgiven for thinking that God had made a similar proclamation in the UK.

But thankfully no one believes that kind of nonsense in this country.

So maybe 'We the Women' will catch on in the UK - maybe even deep in the bowels of the still male dominated parts of the UK trade union movement. 

I for one hope so - anyway.

Song Remains the Same (26 December 2011)

Londoners face a day of travel disruption today - as ASLEF members stage a 24-hour strike on the underground network. 

The dispute is apparently about working on public holidays such as Boxing Day - with ASLEF demanding that their members should be paid triple time - plus an extra day in lieu.

Quite what the logic of this demand is I don't know - because no other public service industry in the land pays such high rates - as far as I know anyway.

So what makes train or tube drivers so special - because a nurse or a carer doesn't get triple time and a day in lieu?

Nothing is the answer, but for years the rail unions have used their bargaining position to drive up pay and conditions - for jobs that don't hold a candle to many other demanding jobs in the public sector.

The London underground drivers are paid salaries worth almost £50,000 a year - much more than a highly qualified nurse running an intensive care unit, for example.

But the drivers willingness to go on strike regularly has driven wages up to levels that are in no way justified - in terms of the skill and responsibility of their jobs.

Successive governments have lacked the will to bring forward proposals to require compulsory arbitration in damaging disputes like these - which is really what's required.

Here's something I wrote about ASLEF for one of the Sunday newspapers, almost 10 years ago now, I don't think much has changed beyond the fact that the union has a new general sercretary.

In essence the song remains the same.

What does ASLEF stand for?

Mick Rix is the top banana in the train drivers union, ASLEF; a tough-minded negotiator by all accounts, which is fair enough because that’s what he’s paid to do by his 15,553 members. But don’t be fooled into believing that the current rash of rail disputes is about some noble cause. Oh no, this is free market economics, red in tooth and claw, and Aslef is the trade union movement’s answer to David Beckham, only much less modern in its outlook.

Railway drivers are an elite group. While other trade unions have merged to create industry wide bargaining, ASLEF remains resolutely on its own, which makes sense from a narrow self-interest point of view since becoming part of a bigger bargaining group would dilute the drivers’ negotiating strength. So, ASLEF members pay some of the highest union contribution rates in the land, £17.77 a month, as the price of maintaining their independence.

Elsewhere, trade union have put aside old differences and looked to the future: Cohse, Nalgo and Nupe merged to form Unison, AEU and MSF tied the knot recently to re-emerge as Amicus, and the GMB and TGWU are engaged in a long courtship to create another new super union, which cynics predict will be called the G&T- union barons are part of the establishment nowadays, by and large, the class warriors are long gone.

Transport unions have also gone down this path. The NUR and NUS gave birth to the RMT some years ago, but Aslef won’t touch it with a bargepole as long as the good times continue to roll. Mick Rix called for national bargaining recently as the way to bring peace to a troubled industry, though he means bargaining in separate groups, not industry wide, so that train drivers can continue to hold employers and commuters to ransom. Of course, national bargaining is no answer at all if it simply ratchets up pay levels, regardless of productivity or the employer’s ability to pay, since unsustainably high fares will be the result.

Yet drivers are not amongst the ranks of the low paid-not by a long chalk! A driver’s job carries responsibility for public safety, admittedly, but involves relatively little training or skill compared to a nurse, for example. So, why are rail drivers paid more than twice as much as a newly qualified staff nurse who has studied for a minimum of three years?

The answer lies in poor management and lack of political leadership resulting in an industry that’s a terrible mess, as everyone knows. Successive governments have ducked long-term investment decisions and the public is now paying the price, but the culture of the railways needs a radical shake-up as well.

Incredibly, ASLEF can boast of only 373 women amongst the ranks of its members according to the TUC’ s web site. 2.4% explains a lot about the culture inside the union and since ASLEF operates pretty much as a closed shop, it also paints an accurate picture of the wider industry; backward looking, a stranger to equal opportunities and the notion that women might have the skills necessary to drive a train. Spelling out the union’s acronym sums things up rather neatly: ASLEF is the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen. What’s in a name? Quite a lot if you think about it.

Performance wise, there’s a good case for tying senior rail executives to their own tracks for allowing macho industrial relations to develop such a strong hold. ASLEF is merely exploiting the situation for all it’s worth, going back to the movement’s historical roots with a dose of old-fashioned trade union syndicalism. Issues of low pay elsewhere in the industry, within the RMT for example, are unimportant and the public interest barely registers on the union’s radar screen. It’s a dog eat dog world out there and no one is going to look at the world from the point of view of the long suffering, fare paying passenger.

So, these strikes are not about low pay, rapacious employers, or attacks on trade union rights and members interests. Instead, they’re about ASLEF exploiting a bargaining position that’s been reinforced by breathtaking incompetence from senior managers. Appealing to common sense or reason won’t make a blind bit of difference at this stage, hard-nosed thinking and a commitment to change is the only answer.

In a rational world, the government would move quickly to restore order to the present chaos. A modern public transport system will never be achieved with industrial relations that belong to the 19th century. Why invest billions if managers try to operate services by relying on drivers to work overtime, which is asking for trouble?

Big reforms are possible without attacking drivers or union rights. Compulsory arbitration ought to be high on Stephen Byers agenda as he fights for his political career and comes up with a cunning plan to get Labour off the ropes ahead of the next election.

Scotland’s first minister, Jack McConnell, got it right by describing industrial relations in the railways as ‘shocking’ in the 21st century, but government needs a strategy not just angry words.

Mark A. Irvine

January 2002