Rail militant victimised
Now who's taking the piss?
SARAH FRIDAY has worked at Waterloo for 12 years, 10 of them as a train driver. She is an RMT Health and Safety Representative for drivers and Chair of Waterloo RMT. Following a disciplinary hearing on February 15, she was summarily dismissed by South West Trains. The charges against her were that she delayed a train, failed to notify a Supervisor that she required to use the toilet, and failed to surrender her safety cards!
This arose when Sarah was trying to discuss important Health and Safety issues with her manager during her break - and the manager refused to co-operate. Sarah has been sacked for her trade union activities.
The RMT Executive has agreed to ballot all Traincrew members at Waterloo for strike action . They are demanding Sarah's reinstatement, the dropping of all disciplinary charges against her and that South West Trains address issues of management harassment and intimidation to the satisfaction of union members. Ballot papers will go out on February 29 and a mass rally will take place at the station in her support on February 28.
Terry Conway from Socialist Outlook talked to Sarah about the issues involved
TC: What do you think the general response of management has been on health and safety issues since the Paddington train crash?
SF: I think it's been pretty appalling. Certainly at my own depot, there's been a complete crackdown on individuals rather than looking at problems they might have with training, procedures or because of the long shifts that they work. They've not addressed any of that, but they've really stepped up on disciplinary procedures, with very harsh punishments. I should imagine this is happening more widely.
Now Prescott has done a complete backtrack on promises that were made after Ladbroke Grove about safety responsibilities.
When Prescott was going round after Ladbroke Grove, he promised that there would be protection for whistleblowers. But I've been sacked, not for the ridiculous charges on my charge sheet, but because I've raised a lot of concerns about health and safety issues, particularly about the working patterns for drivers and the problems that that causes.
TC: Management say in relation to the guards' ballot that they are the ones who are protecting safety, because it's much safer to give drivers responsibility for safety than it is guards. As a driver, what's your response to that?
SF: Well, it's an absolutely ridiculous statement. As a driver, I support the guards in their action, and we were actually balloted as well, as drivers. You know, I would support the guards out of principle anyway.
But as a driver, I also don't want any more work dumped on me. The job is really onerous as it is, let alone having all this extra responsibility placed on us.
The crash at Ladbroke Grove proved that - what do you do when the two drivers are killed? Luckily, there was a guard on one of the trains, and he went to do the protection procedures - that just highlights just how ludicrous all these changes are.
The real reason why the companies want to change the rulebook is because it makes it much easier for them to bring in driver only trains. That's what this is all about.
TC: Before you were sacked, what was the response of your workmates to the health and safety issues that you were raising with management?
SF: They were very supportive. Drivers in both unions approached me, and a lot of the guys at the depot knew that if they contacted me, then I would pursue issues. They were very concerned - it's really awkward working on the railway, because you're not allowed to speak to the press - that's a sacking offence.
One of the main problems is that we could work seven hours without a break.
We do a lot of high intensive, suburban work, and to try and concentrate for that period of time on the signals is hard. There are some fairly busy sections of track. We're often following right behind another train, so you're going from one yellow signal to another one, and all these signals, so you know, you've really got to try and keep alert. That is very difficult, because we're working such a long time without having a break.
They saw me as a person that they could approach and I would try to do something about that. We had meetings at the depot, and me and a couple of other drivers met the rail inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive, and we tried to put over the concerns of drivers.
I did a stress survey of drivers about this time last year, producing pretty alarming result. They felt, because I'd done things like that, a completely anonymous survey, that I was someone they could approach, and within the quite narrow parameters I was able to, I would take up their issues.
TC: What's been the response since you've been sacked?
SF: It's been very good. Everyone realises that I've been got on completely trumped up grounds, and that the real reason they went for me was that I was a thorn in management's side.
There was a crackdown at the depot. They put a new manager in last spring - he's been brought in as a really hard man. The depot was seen as being quite well organised, union-wise, and he's made it quite clear what he's there for. There was an unofficial overtime ban last autumn, when he tried to tear up local agreements regarding rostering. No one's under any illusions about what he's there to do.
I'm just one of several key individuals who people realise were under grave threat from this man. They see my case as an attack on their rights at the depot, and to organise industrially within the union.
TC: Have you been getting broader support?
SF: Yes, I've made it my priority to get round to other depots within the South West Trains area. As we're balloting at Waterloo for industrial action, obviously we're looking for some sort of co-operation during the strike from other depots.
I'm also speaking at various different Regional Councils of the RMT and trying to get out to meetings of other union members within the London area. It was very good that at the big rally of the London Socialist Alliance my case was advertised there, and there was propaganda about what happened to me, asking people to come to the rally.
Send letters of support/cheques ( marked on back S. Friday Reinstatement Fund) payable to Waterloo RMT c/o 3, Blades House, London SE11 5TW. To contact Sarah to speak at any meetings phone 0171 582 2955 or e-mail [email protected]