by Chris Proctor
ASLEF’S conference in Nottingham has accepted that flexible measures have to be adopted to deal with the downturn of rail freight.
The train drivers’ union has even offered temporary changes in conditions which would be reinstated when companies come back into profit, so long as guarantees of no redundancies are given.
The union was less flexible in its TUC dispute with Unite over who should represent staff at Croydon trams. President Alan Donnelly said: “It is more important to us that we represent members in their workplaces than it is to remain within the TUC.”
Ken Livingstone, who opened the conference, was equally inflexible about the solutions to the free-market lunacy of recent years.
“We need planning, the regulation of financial markets, investment in worthwhile projects, scaled down profits and the redistribution of wealth within and across nations. Socialism and public ownership are not ideas that have had their day. They are the solutions to the existing crisis.”
The conference also insisted that ASLEF should not feel embarrassed to talk about “renationalisation”. “It’s not a dirty word”, insisted delegate Sean Seymour.
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