Last week Chris Jones secretary of the passenger traffic, carriage and wagon grades conference of the RMT was sacked for not crossing an ASLE picket line. SIMON KENNEDY asked him to explain the events around his dismissal "I went to work on the Friday moring of the ASLEF strike and came across a picket line. I hadn't expected to, but when I found it I decided not to cross.1 stopped for a while to talk to the ASLEF pickets and then cleared off home.
Six weeks later a manager approached me very intormally to explain what I'd meant by Aska picke of a note explaining my absence.
1 realised then that they were going down the road of discipline. Charges were soon presented.
They clearly came from the highest level of manageI was in fact charged the very day after the current management of inter City West Coast had been told that they were not going to be allowed to buy the company until after the general election. dence, but maybe they took a decision that now was the time to do a bit of union busting - now that it was not going to impinge upon their short-term sales plans. These things are in manager's minds.
I was charged with failing to go to work, taking unoffi. cial industrial action in breach Or my consor chock and taking actions likely to nauce outer peopie to orcak their contracts of employ.
At the hearing I was Nous believe that we could see an stack on me, There's a joke going maintenance outfit. They're in the complex. For five or six peals officer when the "Picing got rid of is because the had been involved in the in the depot and fartber Whether the management publicly admitted it. is hard to say. But certainly that was what he was willing i've bees a dore in thee Maybe that is what is going on The wbole system is being In my depot itself. Long- on of the biggest obstacles to sight, part of the West Coast privatisation is the continued line, there is serious possibili- existence of the RMT.