November 2012

On the march to save our

future

INSIDEn West Coast franchising scandal

n TSSA win at Labour conference

n 'Year of Horror' campaign news

4–7 News & campaignsu Franchising scandal

u New assistant general secretaries

u Transport Museum campaign

8–9 October 20 march

11 General Secretary: towards a merger

12–15 TUC and Labour Pary conference

16–17 Education and Learning events

18–20 Year of Horror update

21 Woody Guthrie remembered

22 British Transport Police

23 What is neurodiversity?

24-27 Commentu West Coast omnishambles

u Community Rail

28-29 Finance and awards

30–32 Help, advice and letters

2 November 2012

in this issue

Transport Salaried Staffs’Association

General Secretary: Manuel Cortes

Joining TSSA T: 020 7529 8032F: 020 7383 0656E: join@tssa.org.uk

Your membership detailsT: 020 7529 8018E: details@tssa.org.uk

Helpdesk (workplace rights advice for members)T: 0800 3282673 (UK)

1800 805 272 (Rep of Ireland)

Websitewww.tssa.org.uk (UK) www.tssa.ie (Ireland)

@TSSAunionfacebook.com/TSSAunion

TSSA JournalEditor: Ben SoffaE: journal@tssa.org.ukT: 020 7529 8055M: 07809 583020

General queries (London office) T: 020 7387 2101F: 020 7383 0656E: enquiries@tssa.org.uk

Irish office from Northern Ireland T: +3531 8743467F: +3531 8745662

from the Republic T: 01 8743467 F: 01 8745622E: enquiries@tssa.ie

TSSA Journal is published by TSSA, Walkden House10 Melton Street London NW1 2EJ

Design and production: Wild Strawberry Communicationswww.wildstrawberry.uk.com

Views published in the Journal arenot necessarily those of TSSA.Acceptance of adverts for productsor services does not imply TSSAendorsement.

TSSA Journal is printed by TU Ink onLeipa Ultra Silk comprised of 100%post-consumer waste. The polythenewrapper is oxo-degradable.

Vol 108/issue 1225

Penguin protestersoutside LibDemconference,looking for a‘freeze’ in rail fares

Andrew Wiard

TSSA Journal 3

editorial

In the few weeks sincethe last Journal we’veseen the appointmentof the 13th Secretaryof State for Transportof the last decade, thelargest turnout of TSSAmembers on a demonstration in many years(see pages 8–9), significant debates at theTUC and Labour Party conferences (pages12-15) and perhaps most importantly of all,the complete collapse of the franchisebidding system.

Whilst the immediate result will bealmost ‘business as usual’ on the WestCoast line, the longer term impacts mayvary wildly, from the definitely bad to thepotentially brilliant.

Starting with the bad, is the fact thatgiven the Government is reluctant to handlines to the publicly-owned DirectlyOperated Railways, existing franchiseholders are likely to be able to extractwhatever terms they like from theDepartment for Transport for the stop-gapextensions. More positively, one wouldhope that a new franchising system woulddiscourage the ‘promise big, then run away’behaviour of some TOCs who hand backtheir franchises as their premium paymentsback to government start to increase. Thevery public rubbishing of the dog’s dinner offranchising can only help make the case forthe complete transformation of thesystem – and it is here that the mostpotentially exciting possibilities exist.

Virgin are being given an extension ofbetween 9 and 13 months. A short-termfranchise – unlikely to be less than 18months would then be open to any bidder.Using the lower numbers, 9+18=27, and inDecember we’ll be 29 months from thegeneral election and still fewer from thepoint when governments can becomereticent about long-term and potentiallyunpopular decisions. As Labour’s ShadowTransport Secretary says (p13), we need tobe lobbying those yet unconvinced or notyet brave enough to accept the case forpublic ownership. Just maybe we can turnan interesting bit of maths into somethingthat can transform the rail industry fordecades to come.

Ben Soffa, editor

Members take up the ‘horror cuts’ theme on the October 20 march18-19

4 November 2012

news

THE VERY PUBLIC collapse of the WestCoast franchising process has thrown aspotlight on the waste, complexity andhuge amount of guesswork involved inthe granting of the multi-billion poundcontracts.

News of the errors in the Departmentfor Transport’s processes broke in theearly hours of 3 October, the day beforeVirgin’s judicial review was due to beheard. The new Transport SecretaryPatrick McLoughlin released a statementsaying that ‘significant technical flaws inthe way the franchise process wasconducted’ had been discovered.

These are said to centre on the value ofthe surety bond that franchise holdersmust give to the DfT, which would beretained in the event of their collapse.Virgin had claimed this should have beenset at £600 million rather than the £190million the DfT accepted. Further errorswere said to include the baseline

assumption on growth and inflationfigures used by the DfT to evaluate eachof the bids. Due to the 13 year length ofthe franchise, small changes in the firstyears can result in very differentoutcomes towards the end of thecontract.

There has also been speculation thatcost-cutting resulted in the DfT failing touse external auditors, who would normallybe used to verify the assumptions inmajor contracts.

The West Coast decision also derailedthe string of franchise verdicts due in thecoming months, with Great Western,Thameslink and Essex Thameside (c2c)routes now needing either extensions totheir current franchises or taking over bythe publicly-owned Directly OperatedRailways.

Bids for Essex Thameside (currentlyc2c) had been submitted just a weekbefore the process was scrapped, whilst

the much larger Great Westernproposals were due to be submittedwithin weeks and would have been in thefinal stages of preparation.

The bid preparation costs of the fourWest Coast applicants will be refunded ata cost of £40-50 million to taxpayers,whilst the further charges for the otherprocesses, First’s loss of earnings and theextension of current franchises may takethe bill to £100 million.7

The staffing structure of the Association is currently undergoing reorganisation tobe better able to support members. The process will create a single managementteam that will oversee both industrial and strategic issues.

Previous heads of department roles have been abolished and replaced with fourequal assistant general secretary positions, including Lorraine Ward, who becomesthe first woman to hold such a senior position within the employed staff of any ofthe rail unions. As AGS1 Lorraine has responsibility for Scotland, Ireland and theHelpdesk, AGS2 Steve Coe handles the North of England, the Midlands, Wales andthe South West, AGS3 John Page looks after London, the South East, Network Railand Community Organising, whilst AGS4 Frank Ward oversees policy, legal, financeand membership functions.

Further changes are being consulted upon for the lower tiers of the Association’sstaff structure, but with certain posts being closed, the existing changes areexpected to save TSSA something in the region of £100,000 a year.General secretary Manuel Cortes told the Journal, ‘These changes will speed up theprocess of moving TSSA closer towards becoming the organising union we need tobe, with members at the heart of every decision. A key part of the AGS’ jobs will beto build links in their areas, both internally with members as well as reaching out towider union, political and community circles.’7

TSSA appoint first-ever rail unionfemale assistant general secretary

West Coast fiasco suspendsall franchise contests

TSSA Journal 5

news

TSSA’S GENERAL SECRETARY ManuelCortes and a delegation of Welshmembers recently met with Carl SergeantAM, the Welsh Government’s Minister forTransport.

The Minister, who spoke at TSSA’sannual conference in the spring, discusseda whole range of transport issues withTSSA, first on the list being the upcomingdecision on passenger services in Walesafter the Arriva Trains franchise expires in2018.

Welsh Labour’s 2011 manifestocommitted to examine the prospects ofrunning the franchise on a not-for-dividend basis – via a co-operative, socialenterprise or other model – via thecurrent franchising framework. Awidespread review of the next franchiseand the future of Welsh rail in general isexpected to be conducted in the comingmonths.

Members discussed the impendingelectrification of the South Wales mainline and the Valley Lines network andwhether any new line re-extensions or re-openings would be put in place as part ofthe plans. The Welsh Government has inrecent years re-opened several lines from

which passenger services disappearedunder the Beeching Axe, but some, suchas Ebbw Vale terminate short of the towncentre. The Minister agreed that suchextensions were their aim, but thereduction in funding provided byWestminster now made such projectsvery difficult.

The Minister said that with

electrification came a range of newpossibilities, including exciting ideasaround metro-style light rail vehiclesserving the Cardiff area. In a sign of thedifferent approach taken by the Labouradministration in Cardiff Bay, it was theminister who proposed holding regularmeetings with the Association, somethingmembers were keen to take up.7

JANUARY’S INCREASE IN regulated fares will be 4.2 per centrather than the 6.2 per cent announced earlier in the year. Whilstcertainly an improvement, the above inflation increase still meansfares will continue to accelerate away from stagnant wages,causing a further decrease in living standards for millions ofcommuters.

Despite being personally announced by the Prime Minister, thechange is supposedly due to the identification of saving in theDepartment for Transport’s budget. The impending by-election inthe commuter town of Corby and the increasing voter anger atfare rises is apparently coincidental.

The Department for Transport is still planning a fare rise ofRPI+1 per cent in subsequent years, meaning the most expensiveprices in Europe are set to get ever more so.7

WHILST ONLY MEANT to be acting as a stopgap before re-privatisation, the East Coast route is diverting millions ofpounds which would otherwise be going to shareholdersback into the railways. In the second full year of running theroute, Directly Operated Railways made a £7m profit, with afurther £189m returned to the DfT via premium payments.East Coast claim an improvement in staff morale over theperiod, with sick days falling from an average of over 14 tounder nine.

The profitable running of the franchise – something of aturnaround story from the days of National Express –provides clear evidence that private profit is not the onlyway to drive up performance on the railway. 7

TSSA meet Welsh GovernmentTransport Minister

East Coast returns millionsto system, not shareholders

Cameron backtracks on fares– but still up 4.2 per cent

Minister for Transport Carl Sergeant AM, Howard Morris, Cheryl O’Brien, Clive Raison,Manuel Cortes and Malcolm Phillips.

6 November 2012

news

TSSA RECENTLY CALLED ademonstration outside the LondonTransport Museum’s Covent Gardenentrance to protest at managementthreats to cut staff, slash the salaries ofthe lowest paid workers and increaseentrance fees. Members at the museumwere joined by the PCS union,journalists, members of the public andLost Arts – the trade union allianceagainst cuts to cultural funding.

Earlier in the day TSSA members,Lost Arts and the Campaign for BetterTransport had lobbied a meeting of theMuseum’s trustees, asking them topreserve its future as an affordable,accessible resource celebratingLondon’s rich transport history.

The future of the museum is underthreat due to the loss of £1 million fromthe Arts Council and TfL’s decision tocut their funding to the museum by 25 per cent. In response, TSSA haslaunched a campaign to Save London

Transport Museum, which has so farreceived much public support. The nextstage of the campaign is to call on TSSAmembers and our supporters to lobbytheir MPs in support of the museum.You can do this very quickly using the

model letter and email tool on the TSSAwebsite at www.tssa.org.uk/ltmuseum.You can also show your support andfind out more at the campaignFacebook page: www.facebook.com/savelondontransportmuseum.7

TSSA IN SOUTH Wales and Western Region held a reception forlocal political leaders and the candidates for Mayor of Bristol inearly October. The evening was to celebrate the award offunding to the Bristol Metro project. The scheme will see severallines and stations re-opening between 2016 and 2018, with aninitial half-hourly service. The improvements come via the

government allowing any growth in business rates in special‘Enterprise Areas’ to be retained locally.

The evening was held alongside the local ASLEF branch inBristol and attracted a cross-party turnout. All of the majorcandidates for this November’s inaugural election for Mayor ofBristol attended, as did Labour’s foreign affairs shadow ministerKerry McCarthy and local Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie.

The evening went well with TSSA members and reps talking topoliticians about what is needed to create a better railway. Themessage was well received, with promises by all mayoralcandidates that they will strive to create a better system locally.

ASLEF’s National Organiser Simon Weller called for greaterinvestment in the rail and the protection of jobs, whilst formerTSSA General Secretary Lord Richard Rosser spoke about theneed for greater political will to drive forward seriousimprovements in public transport. 7In the run-up to the Bristol mayoral elections, Together forTransport are running a local campaign asking candidates to signup to ‘The Bristol Pledge’, which includes seven proposals forimproving local public transport. To join the campaign, seewww.thebristolpledge.org.uk

London Transport Museum campaign gathers speed

Bristol Metro funding celebration

CC

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Gre

ater

Bri

stol

Met

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Local and regional leaders backing the scheme earlier in the year

TSSA Journal 7

news

ON 10 OCTOBER TSSAcelebrated Black HistoryMonth by hosting an eventstaged by the London [tradeunion] Organisers Network.TSSA members were joined byblack and ethnic minoritytrade unionists from acrossLondon to hear the TUC’s raceequality officer Wilf Sullivanand Rukayah Sarumi, Londonyoung Labour’s ethnicminorities officer, discussboth the historical andcurrent struggles of blackworkers.

Wilf had some difficultyexplaining to an audiencethat was predominantly intheir 20s the infamousGrunwick dispute of the1970s. He had to pause toexplain that in those days,cameras had ‘film’ which hadto be unloaded from thecamera and then sent off tobe developed. Rukayahfocused the struggles oftoday, in particular thedisadvantage faced by young

ethnic minority workersseeking jobs in the currentjobs market.

However the highlight ofthe evening was the artist: ‘G’whose portraiture of black

heroes adorned the TSSAboardroom. The TSSA fullyrecognises the additionalchallenges faced by our ethnicminority members (and theirfamilies) in the current

economic environment, andwill continue to work with theLondon Organisers Network topromote trade unionismwithin ethnic minoritycommunities. 7

THERE ARE SOON to be important changes to EmploymentTribunals that will have serious implications for TSSA and itsmembers.

As previously reported in the Journal, from an as yetunidentified point in 2013, the government will imposesubstantial fees of up to £1,200 to take a case to anEmployment Tribunal.

TSSA has repeatedly opposed this measure duringgovernment consultation processes as have other tradesunions and independent employment law experts. Regardlessof this, the fees will be introduced at some stage next year.

There are two classes of fee to be introduced – an initial feewill be due when a claim is submitted, and a further fee someweeks before the case is due to be heard.

It is TSSA’s intention to pay these fees for our memberswhen there is a case brought to us and it appears to be morelikely to be won than lost. Should the claim be won, the

tribunal may include reimbursement of the fees into thecalculation of the compensation. TSSA will expect members wehave supported in this way to pay those fees back to us so thatwe are able to continue to support other members in the sameway.

TSSA remains, as it always has been, committed to makingsure members who are treated poorly at work are able to seeklegal redress in the employment tribunal whenever their claimhas a reasonable prospect of succeeding. Nothing thisgovernment does will undermine that commitment.

Of course, for employees who are not in a union, the impactof the government’s determination to restrict the rights ofaccess the employment tribunals will have a massive effect.Therefore, if your work colleagues have not yet joined TSSA,now would be a good time to let them know what the futureholds for them if they are unfairly treated – and get them tojoin immediately.7

Black History Month celebrated

Fees for justice are on the way

demonstration

Hundreds of TSSA members joined thevast TUC-called demonstration on 20October. The mass opposition to theTory-led government’s damaging andun-just austerity programme includedpeople from all walks of life, united inone simple message: ‘Austerity Isn’tWorking’. Yet more TSSA membersjoined the simultaneous protests inGlasgow and Belfast. With around 400members involved on this day, this wasthe biggest turnout of TSSA memberson a demonstration in many years.

Branches and members from acrossEngland and Wales were present in

London, with many joining in with ourpre-Halloween theme of ‘Fight the HorrorCuts’ by dressing in a ghoulish fashion. Asthe scary music played from our soundsystem plenty of other marchers andpassers-by wanted to take photos of ourdemonic ghost train. ‘Stop the horror ofhigh fares’ and ‘Ghost stations coming toa platform near you’ were warnings thatstruck a chord with many.

The wider TSSA family was also there inforce, with members’ partners, children,parents and pets all joining in.

Over 150,000 people joined the Londondemonstration. TUC general secretary

Marching for aFuture That Works

8 November 2012

TSSA Journal 9

demonstration

Brendan Barber said the massive turnoutshowed how unpopular the coalition'spolicies were: ‘We are sending a verystrong message that austerity is simplyfailing. The Government is making lifedesperately hard for millions of peoplebecause of pay cuts for workers, while therich are given tax cuts.’

Whilst this particular demonstrationmay be over, the campaign needs to growand grow. Plans are being developed formore actions in the new year, whilstmany towns and cities have active anti-cuts coalitions organising regularlocal events.7

‘The cuts are affectingeveryone – benefit cuts, jobcuts. If we don’t protest now,we’ll become the next lostgeneration.’

Asif QuareshiLancs & Cumbria General

‘This government has got toget the message that thesecuts are so drastic that we’renot going to put up withthem.’

Malcolm and Jill PhillipsSouth East Wales branch

‘I’m here to protest again thefact that instead of penalisingthe bankers and those whocaused this catastrophe, thegovernment are going afterthe poorest sections of societywho did nothing wrong –including the sick and disabledwho are being hit instead ofthe tax evaders and thecorrupt bankers.’

Ian McDonaldSouth Eastern (Kent) branch

See more photos and videofrom the march: www.tssa.org.uk/october20march

TSSA members also joined the demonstrations inBelfast and Glasgow on the same day

The march endedwith a rally inHyde Park

TSSA’s ghost train – sponsored bythe socially minded cosmeticscompany Lush - proved reallypopular

The ghost train arrives outside Downing Street – with General Secretary Manuel Cortes and formerTSSA organiser and now Labour MP for Bolton West Julie Hilling.

10 November 2012

Health & Safety

SEVERAL TSSA HEALTHand Safety Reps attendedthis year’s HazardsConference at KeeleUniversity, Britain’sbiggest annual gatheringfor union safetyspecialists.

As usual, Hazards2012 was very much acampaigning as well aseducational event. Therewas a particular focus onthe Tory-ledgovernment’s attacks onhealth and safety – bothin terms of legislationand funding. Cuts to thevital inspections byenforcement authoritieswere roundly condemned,as were the Government’scharacterisation ofhealth and safetylegislation as ‘red tape’to be got rid of.

Numerous workshops

covered a huge array ofissues, from dealing withrisk assessments tocommunicating safetyissues. A moving speechwas given by arepresentative ofFamilies AgainstCorporate Killing (FACK)about the human cost torelatives of avoidablefatal accidents, and thefailure of the state toobtain justice and holdemployers to account. Aninternational dimensionwas provided by aspeaker on the 1984Bhopal disaster in India,from which hundreds ofthousands are stillsuffering.

TSSA health andsafety rep Steve Andrewscommented, ‘the agendawas really well thoughtout. All the sessions I

attended had goodcontent and there wasalways room fordiscussion. All in all, agreat event’.

Manjit Gill said, ‘Therewas everything you needto know about healthand safety:musculoskeletaldisorders, bullying,sickness absence,asbestos, stress andmore. The Bhopal sessionhighlighted the greedand exploitation by hugecorporations, which leftthousands dead andmany still suffering evento this day. It wasamazing to speak to repsfrom nursing, educationand many other sectorsto hear and share theirconcerns. Together wecan make a hugedifference by learningand sharing goodpractice. The keymessage is: Organise,Educate and Make WorkSafe!’7

The next HazardsConference will be on 19-21 July 2013, and TSSAhealth and safety reps areencouraged to apply for aplace.

ON 10 OCTOBER, TSSA Health and SafetyRepresentatives from all the TOCs wereinvited by the Office of Rail Regulation toattend an event themed around riskprevention on the railways and workerparticipation, writes Health and SafetyRep Michael Litchfield.

The aims of the event were to providetraining and information on topics suchas fatigue, stress and other key safetyissues within the rail industry, as well aspromoting collaborative working betweenstaff and employers.

Presentations were given by guestspeakers on a range of topics from stresscaused by organisational change, fatigueor work culture, to working together forrisk prevention and train cab ergonomics.

Speaker after speaker hit home themessage on the essential need for workerparticipation. They advised that it was theperson who deals with the same difficultyevery day who understands the problemand is therefore the specialist, regardlessof grade. The process to solve theproblem should not be for managementto say, ‘This is what we think the problemis. This is how you will solve it’, but rather‘What is the problem? How can we solveit together?’7

Hazards conferenceequips our reps

Rail Regulatorpromotes TOC/Unionjoint working

i

Railway Employees Privilege Ticket Association2012 REPTA membership is available now for all transport industry staff andfamilies, active and retired. Many free, discounted and special rates are availableto members as described in our information packed Yearbook.£4.50 per year including p&p. Additional cards for family members £3. New for2012: Family membership – two adults and all children up to age 18 for £9including P&P. Send cheques/postal orders payable to ‘REPTA’ to: Colin Rolle,4 Brackmills Close, Forest Town, Mansfield, NG19 0PB or joinon line. See: www.repta.co.uk. New: Discount cinema tickets.You can also book rail travel with Raileasy via www.repta.co.uk.

TSSA Journal 11

general secretary

A few months ago, I told you that I wouldbe travelling around the UK and Ireland todiscuss our union's future with as manymembers as possible. For the past eightweeks I have been doing this, and whilst I’llbe attending further meetings over the nextfew months, a clear vision is starting to takeshape.

Like most of you, I wish that our unioncould remain fully independent. Unfortunately,we would need around 15,000 extra membersto make this a long-term financial possibility.Frankly, it’s hard to see this happening in thecurrent economic climate.

Our finances, like those of other unions,have been greatly stretched since the 2008recession. Job losses have significantly dentedmembership income. A depressed rental marketmeans that we no longer get as much as weonce did from leasing parts of Walkden House.In addition, our investment income – andcapital wealth – has suffered as stock marketsacross the globe collapsed and dividendpayments dried up. We have been forced to sellassets to pay our way.

These additional income streams on top ofmembers’ subs have for a long period of timeallowed us to wash our face. Our membershiphas been steadily declining since the 1950s. Infact, it is several decades since membershipincome – on its own – paid for the running ofour union. Some of you will doubtless think itmay have been wiser to have merged some timeago – hindsight is always a wonderful thing.However, it is our responsibility to deal withthis problem now.

Luckily, our forebears put something awayfor a rainy day. Selling investments is helping tokeep our union afloat. We still have a strongfinancial base, even though cash flow remains aconcern, due to our biggest asset being lockedup in bricks and mortar. This means that it hasbecome clear that in the medium-term, we canno longer remain as we are. It is vital that wetake early action, well before our assets areexhausted. If we fail to do this, we will nolonger be in control of our destiny. That is whywe will be talking to other unions now from a

‘A very broad

consensus is

emerging: a merger

is inevitable, but

one which ensures

your voice is heard

loudly and clearly.’

‘You will always

have the final say.

If conference

agrees to merge,

all members will

then get to vote

on this.’

ManuelCortes

com

men

tSecuring your voice – moving towards a merger

position of strength, rather being forced intoany particular arrangement for financialreasons.

Thankfully, a very broad consensus isalready emerging. There is clear recognitionthat whilst a merger is inevitable, we need tosecure a deal which ensures that your voice –and that of future generations of transport andtravel workers – is heard loudly and clearly. Ithas fallen on our shoulders to ensure that thishappens. In all honesty, there is not a largemenu of potential partners. We alreadyapproached our sister transport unions, whorather disappointingly told us that they are notinterested. As you will know, fundamentaldisagreements over a range of issues broughtour talks with RMT to a halt.

The vast majority of unions of a similar sizeto ours are specialised into one industry orprofession – from teachers to radiographers –again, meaning they would not be a suitablepartner. This just leaves a few general unions inthe frame. So far, in my meetings withmembers, the overwhelming message is thatideally they would want to avoid merging withone of the very large unions. There is a greatfear that if we ended up within a union thatalready had more than several hundredthousand members, the voice of 25,000transport and travel workers would be lostforever. I have to say that I am extremelysympathetic to this view. It is clear that theemerging preferred option is seeking a dealwith a union not too many times the size ofour own. This will further narrow the field.

Over the next few months, I will be workinghard with your Executive Committee to ensurethat we have a clear route map of where ourfuture lies. We will put this in place as soon aspossible and by no later than our 2013conference in May. Of course, you will alwayshave the final say. If at a later stage a conferenceagrees to merge, all members will then get avote to either ratify or reject this. This puts youin the driving seat as we seek to secure a strongand viable future for your voice.7

12 November 2012

TUC Congress

Frances O’Gradytakes over as theTUC’s generalsecretary fromJanuary

THIS YEAR’S TUC marked thebeginning of the handover ofpower to a new generalsecretary – and a morehistoric handover than most.The TUC’s first female generalsecretary began herintroductory speech with theline, ‘Well Brothers. You’vebeen thinking about this for144 years. Now… I don’t wantto rush you but… Are youreally sure?’

At Congress and since,Frances O’Grady, who assumesfull responsibility in January,has been starting to stake outa more vocal role for the TUC,with a growing emphasis onorganising the movement toact collectively.

The change of leadershipalso gives the chance tochallenge preconceptionsabout the trade unionmovement, and with it, tomore easily take on thegovernment by serving as thenatural voice of ordinaryworking people in Britain.

The over-riding theme ofthis year’s TUC congress wasthe fight for an economy thatdelivers jobs and wellbeing forordinary people.

In the debate on theeconomy, TSSA treasurer Mick

Carney highlighted the‘excuses and lies’ of theGovernment’s refusal tosupport train manufacturingin Britain, resulting in thepotential closure ofBombardier’s works in Derby,whilst other EU governmentssupported domestic industry.

Manuel Cortes spoke on themotion backing the Action forRail campaign, co-sponsoredby TSSA. Making the case as towhy unions across themovement should besupporting the case for apublicly-owned railway, he toldCongress, ‘This is a battle ofideas between the neo-liberalprivateers and those of us whowant public services for thebenefit of the people. I amabsolutely convinced that ifwe bring the railways into thepublic sector, you will be

asking the very valid question:why not those other publicservices that have beenprivatised?’

Congress voted in favourof measures to force banks tosupport the real economy,including turning thegovernment’s majority stakein RBS into 100 per centownership and transformingit into a State InvestmentBank. There were calls for thedemocratisation of thegovernance and ownership ofthe financial sector whichhad failed the country sobadly.

There was strong supportfor an increase in coordinatedaction by the unions to resistthe government’s slash and burn policies, as well as,more controversially, the‘consideration and

practicalities of a generalstrike’.

UNISON leader Dave Prentissaid ‘We are never strongerthan when we coordinateaction, when we speak withone voice… if the employersrefuse to negotiate, if theattacks continue – we willdeliver coordinated action.’

Carmen Mayusa of theAnthoc Health Workers Unionin Colombia addressedCongress, describing howseveral members of her family– including her brother –were amongst the 3,000 tradeunions who have beenmurdered in her country overthe last 22 years. Congresscarried a motion to supporttrade unionists in Colombiaand backed the peace process.

The TUC also unanimouslycarried a motion calling for thelifting of Israel’s siege againstGaza and to work with thePalestine Solidarity Campaignto send a delegation to visitthe coastal enclave.

Manuel Cortes was electedto the TUC’s ruling GeneralCouncil, once againguaranteeing that TSSAmembers have a voice at theheart of the TUC’s decision-making.7

All change at the TUC

TSSA’s delegation of Fliss Premru, Mick Carney, Mitch Tovey and Harriet Yeo

John

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TSSA Journal 13

DURING THE CONFERENCEseason we saw the battle forLabour’s rail policy beingplayed out in front of TUC andLabour Party audiences. WhilstShadow Chancellor Ed Ballspoured cold water on theprospects of bringing rail backinto the public sector, justthree weeks later ShadowTransport Secretary MariaEagle gave a speech that, ingreat part, could have beendelivered by one of TSSA’sleaders.

There’s clearly all to playfor, with Maria Eagle explicitlycalling on people to lobbyother members of the ShadowCabinet – something thoseeither living or representingmembers in theirconstituencies should takeparticular note of.

When asked by the TSSA’sMitch Tovey, Ed Balls told theTUC:

‘When we came intogovernment in 1997 weinherited a flawed system. TheRailtrack privatisation couldnever have worked – thereason why I’m convinced theprivatisation of the PostOffice could never work isbecause of the experience ofRailtrack.

‘The question is, should webe trying to make thosecontracts work in a fairer way,or should we spend, whatwould potentially be billionsand billions of pounds takingthe rail industry back intowholesale public ownership.I’m not sure if we come intogovernment in 2015 thatexpenditure on that scale willbe the first priority, but let’skeep working together.’

Labour’s Shadow TransportSecretary Maria Eagle told amarkedly different story whenshe addressed the Action forRail fringe meeting just threeweeks later at Labour Partyconference:

‘Only a proportion of themillions made by the EastCoast since it’s been run by[the publicly owned] DirectlyOperated Railways would have

returned to taxpayers. Most ofit would have gone out toshareholders and directors.This is hundreds of millions ofpounds that could be re-invested by the railways ratherthan leaking out into theprofits of private companies.Only an ideological obsessionwith private profit would leadto the government choosing areturn to that failed model.

‘I repeat the call today thatI’ve already made to thegovernment: abandon theideological privatisation of therail industry. Let’s leave EastCoast with DOR, let’s enablethem to do a real job with afuture to run that line insteadof saying to them: ‘we’regoing to flog it off next year.’

‘This is about making adecision in the best interest oftaxpayers at a time of extremepressure on funding. We can’tafford to be giving away publicmoney in this way any longer.Why would you want to do it ifit wasn’t ideology?

‘I believe there’s aconsensus in the country thatprivatisation has been adisastrous failure. I believethere’s a real desire for acredible program of reform todeliver a better deal forfarepayers and taxpayers. The

reality is that we’re threeyears away from the election– we don’t know what we’regoing to inherit if the publicvotes for us, we don’t knowhow many of the franchisesthe government will haveflogged off – though they’renot doing very well so far!We’re going to face legal andfinancial constraints on whatwe can do.

‘I’m not going to makepromises that we can’t keep.We need more accountabilityfor Network Rail. We need toexplore different models ofthe kind that work acrossEurope to tackle the cost offragmentation. Devolution oflocal and regional services is agood thing. With the EastCoast in public hands as aproper comparator, I think thisis the way forward.

‘I want all of you to putpressure in the party and inyour trade unions, to keepputting that pressure on us –and not only me, but othermembers of the ShadowCabinet – to ensure that wecan go to the country in thenext election with a real railreform agenda that will inspirepeople, that will give us abetter service.’ 7

Mitch Tovey

Which way isLabour facing onpublic ownership?

TUC Congress

Labour Party Conference

This year’s Labour Party conference – setagainst a backdrop of an increasinglyshambolic Tory-led government and aconsistent lead for Labour in the polls –saw a party much more at ease withitself and with the unions. Gone wasmuch of the factionalism and leadershipspeculation and, so we were told, gonetoo would be the attitude of treating theunions like some kind of embarrassinguncle who’d crashed the party.

Whilst many crucial questions remainunanswered and will remain so untilnearer the next election, this year’sconference saw Labour start to flesh outthe vision of a definitively post-NewLabour party where ‘reform’ no longer hasto mean privatisation and using stateintervention to force private enterprises

to behave reasonably is seen as obvious,not taboo.

Within this, TSSA had a successfulconference, including the passing of ouremergency motion condemning the £150million not passed on to passengers byTOCs from the compensation paid tothem by Network Rail. However there arestill remnants of the old control freakeryaround, with our motion having to ‘comeback from the dead’ after initially beingruled out of order. In the end senseprevailed and the motion was re-instated,but party bosses must have been kickingthemselves that our text on the WestCoast franchise had also been ruled out, asit was during the conference that thewhole franchising process collapsed.

In moving TSSA’s motion, Chris Clark of

Underground HQ branch told conference‘the only way to stop this happening againis to take the profit motive out of Britain’srailways for good’. He also highlightedbroader issues including the vital role ofstation staff during the Olympics, thethreat to ticket offices from the McNultyReport and concluded his speech – tomuch applause – by telling conference,‘it’s time to send the gravy train into thesidings’.

Speaking to the Journal, Chris said ‘Aswell as the motion on the refunds dodge, Ialso had the privilege of giving a speechon my experience growing up as a Laboursupporter and son of a railway worker inKent. The speech on the railways had beenbrewing inside me for 15 years, and I was

The birth of ‘One Nation Labour’

TSSA’s delegates, staff and members in Manchester

TSSA’s president – and now Labour NEC chair – Harriet Yeochairing Labour Party conference

Chris Clark

14 November 2012

Labour Party Conference

up writing it till 2am the night before. I’mvery proud of the way it came out’.

Manjit said, ‘as a first time TSSAdelegate it was brilliant to be part of theprocess with all the delegates, Councillors,MEPs and MPs working together torebuild Britain. The theme was set by EdMiiliband, who used the great feel-goodexperience of the Jubilee and the OlympicGames to celebrate the spirit of collectiveaction in the British people.

‘As well as the transport fringes, I reallyenjoyed attending debates on stoppingthe BNP and achieving a free Palestine aswell as the celebration which honouredthe pioneering efforts of Paul Boateng,Diane Abbot, Keith Vaz and Bernie Grantover the last 25 years.’

At the conclusion of conference, TSSA’spresident Harriet Yeo was elected to alsoserve as the chairperson of Labour’sNational Executive for the next year. Thisvital role lets a TSSA member literally setthe agenda for Labour’s ruling body overthe next 12 months, underlining thebenefits of the renewed Labour-union link. 7

TSSA Journal 15

The Leader’s speech is always the highlight of the party conference, with EdMiliband’s assured performance – speaking for 65 minutes without notes – drawingpraise from even some of those usually hostile to Labour. He launched the idea of‘One Nation Labour’, contrasting the Tory-led government’s ‘one rule for those at thetop and another for everyone else’ with a refreshed Labour Party that would governin the interests of all.

Ed Miliband developed the theme that irresponsible ‘predator’ capitalism at thetop – be that from banks, train companies or utility firms – must end. Banks weretold to get their houses in order by the next election, otherwise one of the first actsof a Labour government would be to break off their ‘casino’ investment arms from their high street operations.

Despite it being necessary for Ed to achieve much of his ‘one nation’ agenda, it remains to be seen whether Labour willdecisively break from ever-harsher austerity. Narrowing the gap between rich and poor or the north and south can’t be fulfilledby continuing to cut from those currently most reliant on the state but just a little less far and a little less fast. Under Labour asmuch as the Tories, there would need to be a massive programme of public investment to revitalise the economy. Theconsistent poll lead now enjoyed by Labour may hopefully encourage a bolder approach in the coming months.

Ed Miliband’s speech described his direction of travel, rather than laying out many specific policies. Yet the tone was verywelcome, with its focus on the lives of ordinary people rather than trying to please the Murdoch press. Ed’s talk of ‘theforgotten 50 per cent’ who don’t go to university, would never be prioritised by the Tories. His speech started to set out thepolicies to flesh out these ideas, like a new ‘gold standard’ Technical Baccalaureate to be taken at 18 and a requirement thatonly those large companies that train apprentices will be able to win government contracts.

The speech was warmly received by the TSSA delegation. Manjit Gill told the Journal, ‘It was a brilliant speech by Ed Milliband,concluding that we as One Nation can work together and collectively achieve a better quality of life for the whole of the UK.’

Trevor Ollis was pleasantly surprised: ‘Two years ago I was somewhat disappointed (as a ‘Blairite’) that my choice of leaderhad been rejected in favour of his brother. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised in not only the style, but the charisma thathe showed, which was clearly from the heart. At this moment in time he would be elected Prime Minister – let’s hope he keepsthe momentum.’

TransportLabour Shadow Transport Secretary Maria Eagle’s speech condemned thegovernment for accepting TOCs requests for ticket office closures, re-iteratedLabour’s pledge to legislate so that fare increase caps would apply to every ticketand slammed the compensation dodge highlighted in TSSA’s emergency motionwhereby TOCs keep most of the funds paid to them as compensation for delays.

There was also a refreshing honesty that Labour didn’t get a grip on rail faresduring its time in office: ‘Let’s be honest – this Government has made thingsworse, but transport costs were already too high. Because there are fundamental,long term problems with our transport system. And only real reform will deliver abetter deal on rail.’ She set out an aspiration to ‘end the era of above inflation farerises, while still delivering vital investment’ – something that goes beyondLabour’s current demand of RPI+1 per centcaps, correctly identifying that ‘the realwaste comes from the costs offragmentation’.

Maria Eagle’s comments on publicownership are reported on page 13, madewhilst speaking alongside Manuel Cortes atthe Action for Rail fringe meeting. Manuelalso shared a platform with junior shadowtransport minister Lilian Greenwood at theLabour Transport Group fringe, chaired byTSSA member Mike Parker.

Ed Miliband’s speech draws praise

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16 November 2012

NRTS 2012

THIS YEAR TSSA’S multi-daytraining event for reps tookplace in Sheffield – a historicvenue for TSSA, where theAssociation was founded 115 years ago.

Our 5th annual NRTS wasopened by general secretaryManuel Cortes and thepresident of Sheffield TradesCouncil Martin Mayer.Delegates then heard from theNew Economics Foundationwho gave an insightfulpresentation on how flawedausterity policies aredamaging the prospects foreconomic recovery.

The overall theme of NRTSwas to look at how we caninvigorate our members,incorporate more into ouractivities and help buildchange. Reps worked throughhow we could implementthese organising principlesacross various campaigns,from the re-nationalisation ofthe railways to making suremembers feel supported by aneffective local branch.

On the first day everyoneworked together to create a‘problem tree’ – a visual mapof all the major problems that

arise in the workplace. The restof the seminar was spentlooking at the changes neededto overcome these and howwe can enable that change tohappen.

Delegates worked inteams to plan elements oftheir campaign, such as howto engage the company,community and othersupporters to form acoalition, or at least to buildbases amongst potentialallies. Others looked at howto make their campaignpersonally relevant topotential supportersthrough, for example,workplace skills, the idea thatworkers should be providingquality services to the public,with socially-useful (ratherthan just profit maximising)fares and environmentallysustainable practice.

One example was theproject worked on by the teamfrom the Midlands, whoplanned out a campaign forbringing the rail network backinto public ownership, with avision to ensure lower fares forall. Their plans includedworking with MPs, localcouncils, community andcommuter groups and the DfT,including activity throughsocial media and the nationalmedia. Methods weredeveloped with the aim ofgetting the policy into thenext Labour manifesto,strategies for gaining thesupport of local andcommuter-related groups andfinding a leading figure tofront the campaign.

TSSA education officerAdèle Potten-Price, whoorganised the event adds‘When all the groups presented

their plans we had a variety ofreally well thought throughstrategies – but I must say thesong and presentation fromthe London South East teamwas truly a sight to behold!’ 7

Can you help your localreps, activists or branch withskills, contacts or other forms ofhelp? Everything and everyonecounts towards building ourcapacity to support members.Not sure how to contact yourlocal branch? Contact thehelpdesk: 0800 328 2673 Eire: 1800 805 272.

Each group worked on a‘problem tree’ to map out theissue they were working on

Delegatespay theirrespects attheHillsboroughdisastermemorial

National Reps Training Seminar:The future of transport and travel

i

TSSA Journal 17

Learning

THE EVENT OPENED with awelcome from TSSA’s treasurerMick Carney, who praised thepositive work that ULRs do andthe importance of learning asan organising tool.

Interactive workshopsutilising videos, case-studiesand a ‘Learning Tree’ helpedprompt discussion on the keyissues and obstacles for thework ULRs are involved in.

While the seminar heardinspiring reports of work thatULRs are involved in, theemphasis of the event wasvery much on work that willbe done in the future. ‘I foundthe seminar reallyempowering’, said TranslinkUlsterbus Inspector and ULRGreg McKernan. ‘It was highly

educational and I got a realsense of community out of it.I love coming over andtouching base with everyoneat events like this. I certainlywent home with a renewedvigour to tackle issues in theworkplace’.

One of the highlights of theevent were the ‘speed stalls’that gave ULRs mini-tastersessions across a range ofissues. From social networkingto apprenticeships, online ITresources to the Better Railcampaign, each speed-stallwas informative andempowering. Many ULRspledged to take theinformation they had beengiven back to use in theirworkplace.

Mo Begum, one of the leadULRs that helped facilitatethe event said: ‘This was thefirst time I had presented ata national event and I wasnervous. But the more Iparticipated, the moreconfident I became. From theevent I have learnt newmethods of promotinglearning and hope to go backand set up a Learning Centrein my workplace.’

Company-based planningsessions were seen as a usefulway to plan and identify keyissues for ULRs and the unionmore generally. It quicklybecame clear that the mosteffective way to organise inthe workplace was by workingclosely with industrial reps,health and safety reps andother activists to addresscommon concerns.

The seminar also heard from

the union’s equality anddiversity organiser who spokeabout TSSA’s work onneurodiversity – an area thataffects many members andtheir families and one that ULRscommitted to do work on locally.

The event saw many ULRssign up to Learn to Grow, anew TSSA Learning initiativethat will show how gardeningcan be used as a learning tool.Through the distribution ofseeds and educational materialmembers will be encouragedand supported to growvegetables in their workplaces.

A wider perspective tounion learning was providedby after-dinner speaker andformer West Bromwich Albionfootballer Paul Raven. Paul nowworks as Union LearningProject worker for the PFA andgave an inspiring talk aboutthe work their union does tosupport footballers in learningprojects at every level of thegame. The event ended with arousing address from ManuelCortes who pledged supportfor the work of ULRs and madeclear its priority within theunion’s campaigns to improvethe lives of our members andtheir families. 7

Union Learning: shifting up a gear

TSSA Union Learning Reps fromacross the UK and Irelandrecently came together for anannual seminar that wasdescribed as ‘positive’ and‘inspiring’. This year’s themewas ‘Changing lives, changingworkplaces’ and it was clearfrom many of thecontributions that TSSA ULRsare working towards doing justthat.

Mo Begum: ‘I hope to set up aLearning Centre’

18 November 2012

Year of Horror

Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money isbeing shovelled into the profits ofshareholders rather than being investedin a better railway that is both affordableand accessible to all. Heard it all before?So have most of the public, with recentpolls showing 70 per cent support forpublic ownership. Yet the pressure felt bypoliticians has so far been insufficient toconvince them that people feel stronglyenough about it for them to need to act.That’s why we are launching our Year ofHorror 2013, to highlight the horrorwaste and mismanagement of ourrailways under a privatised system. Weneed to organise ourselves and ourcommunities in support of change thatwill make a better railway, show ouranger at the horror cuts being forcedthrough via the franchise process and thegovernment’s agenda to cut, cut, cut!

Fight the Horror CutsOn October 20 hundreds of TSSAmembers joined the protests against theGovernment’s cuts agenda. Whilst manyareas of spending are being slashedimmediately, their cuts agenda for rail,spelt out in the Command Paper releasedin March, is more subtle in execution, butstill devastating in its results. At the sametime, Train Operating Companies havebeen implementing cuts to that chimewith the government agenda –proposingticket office closures, installing ticketmachines to justifyfurther staff cuts andnot replacing workersas they leave. Thesecuts are rarely noticed

by the public until fare increases becomereality or until their ticket office is closed.But as the West Coast debacle has shown,there are many opportunities to fight thehorror cuts to rail before it’s too late.

The Better Rail campaign will focus ourfight in the Year of Horror 2013 on ourvision of:

A Quality Public Service that is publiclyowned and accountable with betterstations, quality infrastructure and isintegrated with other means of transport

Better jobs, decent work, careeropportunities

A highly skilled workforceA railways that is safe to work on, safe

to travel onWhere the community has a voice and

can shape the systemFares that are affordable and the

railway is cost effective, delivering valuefor money

Technology that improves the travelexperience but is not an alternative todecent work or a quality public service

Environmentally friendly transportWe need to highlight the faults in our

current system on a local level, reachingout to our colleagues, passengers,community groups, politicians and otherdecision makers. Our Year of Horror 2013will provide us with a platform to raiseawareness on the crisis in the rail industry– and have fun along the way!

Freddy CutsHe just doesn’t make sensePotential cuts include closing over 600ticket offices, with more than athousand at risk of at least a cut totheir opening hours. Tens of thousandsof staff are under threat on platforms,in ticket offices and on trains.

How do we make the railwayaffordable and accessible to all? Aquality service for the public? With aninfrastructure that will enable oureconomy to grow? The government’splan takes us in the opposite direction.That just doesn’t make sense.

Ghosts of the Railway’s FutureGhost trains and ghost stationsare our future unless we act now!On the October 20 demonstration wedepicted the government’s vision forrail – a ghost train, full of the ghosts ofpassengers who can no longer affordto travel by rail, heading to ghoststations with no staff, only machines.

TSSA’s campaigns against fareincreases and ticket office cuts havereceived overwhelming support frompassengers and community groupswho are joining with us to fight for abetter railway. We need to furtherincrease the pressure for a properlystaffed railway and keep the ghosttrains off our network.

This Halloween we launch our campaign theme for next

year, our Year of Horror 2013. As part of our fight for a

better railway, we want to highlight the horror waste in

our system and the reasons why we need a publicly

owned railway.

Get active in the Year of Horror 2013Our Better Rail campaign set a new standard this year of holding an average ofone action per week. We want to keep to this level of activity by holding oneaction per week right through 2013! But just in case that's not enough to getthe attention of the government and industry decision makers, we will alsohold 13 major actions or stunts throughout the year.

What you can do to get active:talk to your branch about what action they would like to do and pledge an

action on www.tssa.org.uk/pledgepledge to do the Better Rail workplace survey, contact Nadine Rae on

raen@tssa.org.ukget involved in our fares campaign, contact Sam Tarry on tarrys@tssa.org.uksend your spooky action ideas to organising@tssa.org.uk.

Year of Horror

TSSA Journal 19

Toxic Waste MonsterFight him to eliminate the wastein our system

Over £1 billion could be saved in ourrailways each year if the railway wasreturned to public ownershipaccording to the Rebuilding Rail report.

Taxpayer subsidy of the railways hasdoubled since privatisation – up from£2.4bn to £5.4bn. Yet wheninvestigating the farce of thefranchising system, the governmenthave ruled out even looking at thesavings – estimated at over £1bn ayear that could be saved by a return topublic ownership. Ignoring this wastejust doesn’t make sense. In our Year ofHorror 2013 we will take this debateback into our communities withvigour, ensuring our politiciansand other decision makers understandthe answer is not to eliminate jobs andservices, but to eliminate the waste inthe system.

Vamping-up FaresSucking the life fromunsuspecting passengersThe UK has the most expensive fares inEurope – with prices acceleratingfurther and further ahead of wages. Inthe last two and a half years fares haverisen by 12 per cent. By the time of thenext general election they will haveincreased by a staggering 20 to 25 per cent.

Whilst the government are drivingforward cuts in the railways, at thesame time they are increasing fares atan inflation-busting rate. In our Year ofHorror 2013 we will take a standagainst unreasonable and unaffordablefares and remind the government thatrail travel is a key enabler of theeconomy and that pricing people awayfrom rail will damage the prospects forgrowth.

Crazed Ticket Vending MachinesThey’re taking over stations near youThe Government Command Papersupports replacing station staff withticket vending machines.

Our Stations Postcard Campaignhas given us the direct proof we needto show that passengers do not wantto replace their face-to-face customerservice with machines. This researchthat our members conducted earlierthis year identified Ticket VendingMachines as being the least valued ofthe features we asked people about.

Although we are told how TVMs area quick and easy way to buy tickets,what is not reported or recorded byTOCs are the queries that TicketOffice staff receive from people whotry to use the machines and arepresented with errors, or are notoffered the full range of tickets, orencounter faults in the machines.Some of our members in a busyLondon station report spending 40 percent of their day dealing with queriesfrom people who have tried to usemachines and faced a problem. Theseinstances simply show as sales formachines, not as sales or valuableservices provided by staff members,

thus adding to the arguments thegovernment are using to increaseTVMs and decrease staff. This is just

one of the barriers TVMs pose to theaim of providing a quality public

service. We believe in technology, butnot to the exclusion of human contactthat’s highly valued by passengers.

Better Rai l

TO END AN action packed yearwith a bang, TSSA are holdinga Better Rail Conference on 29November 2012 in London. Hoton the heels of the launch ofthe ‘Year of Horror 2013’,representatives from TOCs,Network Rail, infrastructurecompanies, BTP and our freightoperating companies will beinvited to attend the first everBetter Rail Conference todeliberate on key issues anddevelop strategies in our fightfor a better railway.

Industry StandardsWhen we launched the BetterRail campaign at TSSAconference in May 2012, westarted our consultation withmembers on what they feltshould be part of TSSA’s visionfor rail. So we have been askingmembers what they think willmake a better railway. This willhelp us form a standard for theindustry – standards forworkplace terms and

conditions that all our railmembers can bargain towardsin 2013 and beyond. If youhave a job in rail, what futureshould that provide you andyour family? Our industrystandards will be a top agendaitem at this year’s Better RailConference.

Make sure your company isrepresented: contact NadineRae on raen@tssa.org.uk formore information.

Better Rail WorkplaceSurveyWe want to know what thosein your workplace think willmake a better railway.

This month we launch theBetter Rail Workplace Surveyacross all our rail membership– Network Rail, TOCs, BTP, etc.Over the next few months ouractivists and leaders will beasking members what theirtop issues are and what theythink will make a betterrailway. The answers will help

us identify the issues weneed to focus on toorganise and buildstrength in ourworkplaces. It will alsohelp build our vision ofBetter Rail.

We need the help of allour leaders and activists– will you help out?In the next fourmonths we wantworkplace leaders andactivists to conductthe Better Rail surveyin their workplace.Here’s a quick guideon how to conductyour workplace survey:l Aim to do thesurvey over the courseof four weeks. Chooseyour four week periodsometime betweenNovember 2012 and February2013.l Request a survey pack onlineat www.tssa.org.uk/pledge l Identify a group of contacts

who can help you gather yoursurveys. Use your survey packto plan together how you willget it done.l Approach people tocomplete the surveys. Askthem to return them to yourcontacts.l Post the completed forms intogether, using the envelopesin your Survey Packs.

The surveys will be collatedcentrally and the results will bereported to you locally andalso to the TOC NationalCouncil. That way we canidentify common issues butalso support your organising atthe local level. 7

Pledge to do the surveytoday: www.tssa.org.uk/pledgeFor more information contactNadine Rae onraen@tssa.org.uk

Better Rail Conference – join us on 29 November

20 November 2012

i

2012 MARKS THE hundredthanniversary of the birth ofWoody Guthrie, the singinghobo who carried political folksong from the Oklahoma dustbowl to the urban centres ofLos Angeles, New York and –ultimately – to listenersaround the world.

In the mid-1930s, at theheight of the GreatDepression, Guthrie travelledacross America with farmlabourers and sharecropperswho had lost their landthrough bank foreclosures orthe environmental damagecaused by over-farming theland. The dustbowlers headedto California, where farmagents promised themplentiful work and good wages– but they arrived to find thefarm work hugelyoversubscribed, pitiful wages,appalling conditions and racialanimosity being stirred upbetween them and poor, oftenillegal Mexican workers beingused as cheap labour. Guthriepenned a column, ‘Woody Sez’,for the People’s Worldnewspaper, exposing theexploitation by Californiafarmers and promotingorganised resistance by theUnited Cannery, Agricultural,Packing, and Allied Workers of

America. He also started hisdecades of song writing,highlighting the plight ofworking people and promotingorganised resistance in songssuch as ‘Do-Re-Mi’ and ‘TomJoad’.

In 1940, Guthrie leftCalifornia and headed east,basing himself in New York forthe rest of his life. He quicklyjoined the Almanac Singersand starting a frenetic criss-crossing of the USA,promoting the Congress ofIndustrial Organizations (aTUC equivalent) andpromoting union organisationand recognition through themedium of song. The Almanacswere commissioned to recordsuch union songs as‘Boomtown Bill’ and ‘Keep ThatOil A-Rollin’ for the OilWorkers International Union,and ‘Song for Bridges’ for theInternational Longshore andWarehouse Union, and theypromoted women’sorganisation through ‘UnionMaid’.

With the Nazi invasion ofthe Soviet Union and theJapanese attack on PearlHarbor, the Almanacs becameenthusiastic anti-fascists,seeing organised labour as thegreatest weapon against

Nazism. In this context theypenned ‘Roll the Union On’ and‘Round and Round Hitler’sGrave’. Guthrie joined themerchant marine, makingthree transatlantic voyages onLiberty Ships and becomingactive in the NationalMaritime Union.

Although still performingafter the war, Guthrie’screative abilities quicklydeteriorated with the onset ofHuntington’s Disease and from1953 he was permanentlyhospitalised. In perhaps his lastgreat comment on the stateof labour in the USA, Guthriewrote ‘Deportees’ in 1948, asong about a planeload ofMexican labour, deported fromCalifornia as illegal, whichcrashed in the Los GatosCanyon, killing all on board.Guthrie was incensed by thefact that none of the victimswere named; they werereported simply as ‘thedeportees’. After a longdecline, Guthrie died, aged 55,in 1967 from complicationsresulting from Huntington’sDisease.

The continued relevance ofGuthrie to today’s struggleswas highlighted this July atthe Tolpuddle Martyrs’Festival, when folk singer Will

Kaufman was invited toperform a 45 minute set ofGuthrie songs, ‘WoodyGuthrie: Hard Times and HardTravellin’, at which a numberof TSSA members werepresent, myself included. 7Dr John S Partington, TSSAhealth and safety rep,Network Rail Reading Depot

TSSA Journal 21

Woody Guthrie

A century ofWoody Guthrie:folk singer andtrade unionist

John Partington looks at the life and contribution of the musicianbest-known for his song ‘This Land Is Your Land’.

With theapproach ofGuthrie’scentenary, JohnPartingtondecided togather a groupof fellowenthusiasts and scholars tocompose a collection ofessays looking at Guthrie’slife, music and thought.The book gives specialemphasis to Guthrie’slabour unionism and anti-fascism, and the powerof song in promotingresistance to industrial andpolitical oppression. Thebook, The Life, Music andThought of Woody Guthrie:A Critical Appraisal, can beobtained for £49.50 fromwww.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754669555.

BT Police

22 November 2012

TSSA MEMBERS AT BTP aregetting organised. After atough organising campaignTSSA won recognition torepresent police staff in 2008.Since then, our TSSArepresentatives have beenfighting for a better BTP.

TSSA has sole recognitionfor members of the BritishTransport Police force who arestaff (as opposed to PoliceOfficers). That includes PoliceCommunity Support Officers(PCSOs), control room, clericaland admin staff, Scene ofCrime Officers (SOCOs) andworkers at the CrimeRecording Centre, amongstothers.

Earlier this year welaunched a workplace surveyfor both members and non-members in BTP, asking themwhat they liked about workingfor BTP and what were theirtop issues or problems thatthey faced at work

A regular theme within theresponses was people tellingus they liked working for BTPbecause of ‘The great people Iwork with’ or ‘The friendlystaff’. Another added ‘Thevariety of work and feeling likeI might be able to make adifference’.

Clearly our members arevery proud of the work theydo in BTP, and rightly so. EveryBTP worker plays apart in making therailways safe totravel and work on.

But there are still

issues that affect us in theworkplace, with top problemsidentified as:l Lack of training,development and careeropportunitiesl The Sickness StandardOperating Procedure (SOP),where illness counts againstperformance and inhibitsaccess to trainingl Not feeling valuedl Lack of communication l Safety equipment for PCSOs

Our reps got together togo over the issues andaspirations of BTP workers and

came up with ‘Our Vision forBTP’. The vision is a pledgefrom our TSSA reps to fight forthe things that will make BTPbetter, both for TSSA membersand the travelling public.

Standard OperatingProcedures (SOPs)Many of us are aware there area multitude of SOPs at BTP.Our reps review the SOPSregularly with management,ensuring changes are made inthe interests of our members.Reps are currently looking atthe Sickness SOP under which

taking a day off sick countsagainst your performance andmeans you will not be putforward for training or careerprogression opportunities.

Reps are also working on aStress Management SOP. ThisSOP allows for organisationalstress audits and regular riskassessments, training formanagers on how to managestress, support and specialistadvice for staff on how to dealwith stress and provides forinitiatives which have healthbenefits to be available for allstaff. The SOP also describescommon causes of stress aswell as the effects andsymptoms of stress – a usefuldocument which can berequested from your HRBusiness Partner.

If you think yourself or acolleague is suffering fromworkplace stress, find moreinfo and sources of help atwww.tssa.org.uk/btp.

Have your say: If you wouldlike to have your say andcomplete the survey see onwww.tssa.org.uk/btp. Whatyou think of these SOPs andothers? Contact us onbtp@tssa.org.uk.

Join the campaign: We’ll berunning sessions for membersand reps throughoutNovember as part of our‘Volunteering for Vision’organising campaign. If youwant to get more involved,please register for the sessionson 9, 16, 19 or 29November.7

We TSSA members believe that everybody at BTP has theright to work in an environment that is free from stress,where we are all respected and acknowledged for the roleswe play in delivering safe and secure public transport.

Together, we will:l Empower, engage and communicate with our membersand provide continued supportl Consult and negotiate with management to achievebetter terms and conditions including:

– pay– SOPs, like sickness– flexible working hours to allow us to achieve a betterworklife balance

l Fight to improve training, development and access tocareer opportunitiesl Drive change in the culture of our workplace to ensureeveryone is respected and unnecessary stress due topolicies or practice is eliminated.

Together we Stand, Support and Achieve

Your workplace rep is:..................................................

..........................

Helpdesk 0800 328 2673

btp@tssa.org.uk

www.tssa.org.uk/join

www.tssa.org.uk/btp

the unionfor peoplein transportand travel

Our vision forBritish TransportPolice

Our Vision for BTP

TSSA Journal 23

equalit ies

What is neurodiversity? CONDITIONS SUCH ASdyslexia, dyspraxia, attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) and AspergersSyndrome are all groupedunder the title ofneurodiversity (ND), withworkers with these conditionsoften facing barriers in theworkplace.

TSSA launched the ‘Lost forWords’ dyslexia project in early2010 to raise awareness ofdyslexia at work. Thisexpanded into the TSSAneurodiversity project,supported by the UnionLearning Fund, which aims toraise awareness of the mainND conditions and helpdevelop more ND-friendlypolicies and practices in TSSAworkplaces.

A relatively commonexample of a neurodiversecondition is AspergersSyndrome. AspergersSyndrome is a form of autism,which is a lifelong disabilitythat affects how a personmakes sense of the world,processes information andrelates to other people. Autismis often described as a‘spectrum disorder’ becausethe condition affects people inmany different ways and tovarying degrees. AspergersSyndrome is mostly a ‘hiddendisability’, meaning you can’ttell that someone has thecondition from theirappearance. People with thecondition have difficulties inthree main areas: socialcommunication, socialinteraction and socialimagination. Awareness of thebarriers that people withAspergers Syndrome mayencounter at work is rising.TSSA has been at the forefrontof the work in this field by

commissioning independentacademic research so we canbetter understand and supportmembers in TSSA workplaceswith Aspergers Syndrome orrelated conditions.

Neurodiversity focus groupsOver the summer,independent focus groupresearch exploring membersand non-members attitudesto, and knowledge of,neurodiversity in TSSAworkplaces was conducted.Researchers from Heriot-WattUniversity in Edinburgh heldfive focus groups, the resultsof which will inform anawareness campaign in thefirst half of 2013. Theresearchers will present theirfindings at a reception inParliament on 3 December –if you have an interest in thisarea would like to join us,email Susannah Gill ongills@tssa.org.uk.

Neurodiversity training As part of the neurodiversityproject, and building on thesuccess of the previous ‘Lostfor Words’ campaign to raiseawareness of dyslexia, wehave organised a three daytraining course by ourproject partner DyslexiaAction in February 2013. The

training will create a newunion role in TSSA workplaces– that of NeurodiversitySupport Adviser. ND SupportAdvisers will be trained toscreen members for NDconditions, talk throughneurodiversity issues inconfidence with membersand take issues up withemployers. We also envisagethat ND support advisers willplay a strong role in raisingawareness of neurodiversityissues more generally in theirorganisation, throughcampaigning and organisingaround these issues.

The training is open to allTSSA members. We are lookingfor course participants to signa commitment that they willactively use this training toscreen, organise, representmembers and developawareness of neurodiversity intheir workplace. The trainingdates are 13, 14 February andthen either 20 or 28 February.The first training course will beheld in central London and wewill hold future courses in theMidlands and the North. Pleaseemail the NeurodiversityOrganisers ongills@tssa.org.uk (South) orhughess@tssa.org.uk(Midlands/North) if you areinterested in signing up. 7

Earlier this year, TSSAsuccessfully bid forfurther Union Learningfunding to expand theneurodiversity projectwork nationally. SarahHughes has recentlytaken on the part-timerole as the TSSANeurodiversity learningorganiser covering theNorth and the Midlands.Sarah’s background is inhealth, and she is aregistered learningdisability nurse and ahealth visitor. Sarah willbe playing a crucial rolein supporting members,ND support advisers andlearning representativesin raising awareness,identifying, planning andpursuing learning,dyslexia and otherneurodiversityopportunities. Sarah willalso be negotiating withemployers aroundneurodiversity support,guidance and resources.Sarah works two days aweek and is based inTSSA’s York office. Shecan be contacted on07590 183 727 and byemail onhughess@tssa.org.uk.

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New neurodiversityorganiser for theMidlands and North

24 November 2012

Christian Wolmar

The West Coast fiasco would have beenrejected as a script for the politicalsatire show ‘The Thick of it’ as toooutlandish. Never in my years ofcriticising the franchising system andasking the question ‘what is franchisingfor?’ would I have dreamt that it couldget this bad.

To argue, as some in the industrysuggest, that this is just a temporary blipin the wonderfully successful history offranchising is to be living in a dreamlandruled by Thomas the Tank Engine.Franchising will never be the same again,not least because the wider public has,

again, been exposed to the failings of theprivatised rail industry. The key point isthat this omnishambles – such an aptnew word used by the Alistair Campbellfigure, Malcolm Tucker, in the show – hasresulted precisely from the way that thefranchise system has developed and that’swhy the system is unrepairable.

The franchising system, created atprivatisation when the disastrous decisionto separate the infrastructure fromoperations was made, has always sufferedfrom the fact that ministers have beenunclear about its purpose. Ostensibly, it isto attract private sector innovation and to

stimulate competition during the biddingprocess, but, in fact, neither of these aimshas been achieved. Sure, there have beensome improvements to rail services sinceprivatisation but very few of these can beattributed to private sector innovation –British Rail, remember, created ‘The Age ofthe Train’ and while its front man, JimmySavile, may have been discredited, the HST125s that it heralded still pound up anddown the tracks reliably and comfortably.

As for competition, the potentialbidders are now only a handful oftransport companies, created out of thebus deregulation of the 1980s, and

The franchising omnishambles

‘The Thick of it’

We knew it was bad, but Christian Wolmar asks just how the West Coast franchising

process came to be so flawed.

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TSSA Journal 25

Christian Wolmar

European state owned railways – no oneelse is interested in taking on franchises,which is hardly surprising given thecomplexity of the system. And it is thatcomplexity which has been at the root ofthe problem. Initially, franchise deals wererelatively simple – the first GatwickExpress successful bid by National Expresswas just eight pages long – but ministerswere worried about franchises going bustor making superprofits.

It was this mad urge to privatise andyet retain control that directly led to thismess. In the West Coast franchise, twoextra features were introduced, adding afurther overlay of complexity into theprocess. First, because passenger numbershave traditionally gone up or downaccording to the economy, there was tobe an adjustment to the premiums paidback to the government on the basis ofthe overall economic situation. So if therewere another prolonged recession, thepremium payments would have beenreduced and in a boom the operatorwould have had to pay more.

Secondly, the bond payment – thesupposed security against the operatornot being able to fulfil the contract – wasmade variable in accordance with the risk;in other words, if a franchise were morelikely to fail, which was clearly the casewith FirstGroup’s bigger bid, then thebond would have to be larger. In bothcases, apparently, these calculationsproved faulty and that’s why ministers,not daring to risk putting the model up inthe court case brought by Virgin, decidedto scrap the whole process.

Singling out the three civil servantswho were suspended was completelyunfair. As The Independent (October 15)showed, there had been major cuts in theDepartment with 20 or more seniorofficials being made redundant. Moreover,there was no single person in the DfT leftin charge of the railways – a clear mistake.

The most depressing aspect of this taleis that the lessons are not being learned.Sitting at a lunch next to Norman Baker,the Lib Dem junior transport ministerrecently, it was depressing to hear thesame old neoliberal mantra being trottedout. When I suggested that the franchisescould, at least, be let out on the basis ofconcessions as with the very successfulLondon Overground – in other words with

the government taking all the ticketrevenue and the franchisee merelyrunning the trains on a contract basis –he said it would ‘take away the incentivefrom the private companies to boostrevenue’. This is just nonsense. Hundredsof contracts are run on this basis and theincentive, surely, is for a company to dowell so that it wins future deals. Yet,somehow, the old gramophone record isstuck with the notion that the only wayto run things is through privatecompanies motivated by greed andpersonal gain. That idea, in fact, is ratherinsulting to the private firms, as well asdisregarding the very successful examplesof public enterprise throughout history.Therefore, while a ‘review’ of franchising isto take place headed by Eurostar chairmanRichard Brown, abandoning the wholeconcept will clearly not be within his remit.

As for full scale nationalisation, whichactually can be done for free by lettingthe franchises run their course, theCoalition, of course, was never going togo near it, but there is clearly anopportunity for Labour, here. Promising toend the ‘franchising fiasco’ and simplytake back franchises into public ownershipwould not only save money but makesense politically since it has widespreadpublic support. It was noticeable that onAny Questions recently a largely Torysupporting audience clappedspontaneously when Mark Serwotka, the

PCS union leader, suggestedrenationalisation. And there is already anexample to show it works. Since EastCoast was taken into public ownership in2009, it has returned more than £416m tothe Exchequer through profitable runningand has improved performance. Moreover,the move has been immensely popularwith staff: sickness is down from anannual average of 14 days to just 9 whilenearly 70 per cent of staff have taken partin the annual ‘engagement’ survey, muchhigher than under private ownership. Infact Directly Operated Railways, whichruns East Coast, was all ready to take overWest Coast when Patrick McLoughlinpulled the franchise process.

As it now appears likely that the WestCoast franchise will still not have been letpermanently by the time of the nextgeneral election, Labour has a goodopportunity to show that it has reallyabandoned the old neo-liberal agendafavoured by the Blairites by promising tobring it into public ownership. It would bethe perfect response to theomnishambles. 7

Christian Wolmar is seeking to beLabour candidate for the 2016 Londonmayoral election – seewww.wolmarforlondon.co.uk. If youwould like him to come to speak at abranch meeting, contact him viachristian.wolmar@gmail.com.

A view from the future? Unbranded Pendolinos were expected to appear in the comingweeks had Virgin been due to give up the franchise.

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Paul Salveson

The Association of Community RailPartnerships (ACoRP) held its annualawards dinner in the fine surroundingsof STEAM, the museum of the GreatWestern Railway, in Swindon at the endof September. There were over 300guests, including senior managers fromNetwork Rail and train operatingcompanies, plus plenty of communityactivists from projects around thecountry. As far as I could see, the tradeunion movement was un-represented,though some of the rail managerspresent were TSSA members.

The ‘community rail’ movement isnearly 20 years old. It started as a result ofconcerns over the future of the rural rail

network as privatisation loomed in theearly 1990s. A report called ‘New Futuresfor Rural Rail’ sponsored by the soon-to-be-abolished BR Regional Railways, TheCountryside Commission and the RuralDevelopment Commission (both alsoabolished), tried to chart some positiveways forward which would drive up use ofrural lines and make closure less politicallyattractive.

There were two key strategiesdeveloped in that report. One was tocreate ‘community rail partnerships’ thatcould begin in a fairly modest way topromote rural (and other local) routes bybringing together not just localauthorities and the rail industry, but the

wider community. Involving schools, localbusinesses, tourism agencies – and therailway staff themselves – was suggestedas a way to develop a positive momentumfor these routes. The second approachwas more long-term and involved some ofthe more rural railways being managedsemi-independently, based on the successof locally-managed railways on thecontinent, particularly Germany. Theapproach became known as ‘micro-franchising’. The concept was based ongiving a local company (which could bepublicly-owned) direct control over trainservices and potentially infrastructure,bringing a strong focus to local marketsbacked up by well-motivated managersand front-line staff.

Nearly twenty years on, there arearound 60 ‘community rail partnerships’and hundreds of ‘station friends’ groups.Ridership on many rural lines has morethan doubled over the last twenty yearsand any threat of closure, at least for now,is off the agenda. As for micro-franchising,it has never happened. The reasons arenumerous but one major factor is thesheer inflexibility of the post-privatisedrailway, where doing anything thatdiverges from the norm is difficult if notimpossible to effect. And it has to beadmitted that there was considerablesuspicion amongst railway trade unioniststhat micro-franchising could have led to

Where now for ‘Community Rail’?Any past suspicion that Community Rail would act as a cover for attacks on staff should be

put aside – its volunteers can be powerful allies, argues Paul Salveson

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Winners of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships awards

TSSA Journal 27

lower rates of pay and poorer conditions. So twenty years on, where should the

‘community rail’ movement go from here?Many of the problems facing local andrural lines today stem not frominsufficient numbers of passengers butfrom a lack of capacity to meet risingdemand. ‘Community rail’ has been all toosuccessful and by its achievements indriving up passenger numbers many lineshave reached the point where a step-change in operation is essential. Manyrural lines were stripped back to theabsolute basics by BR in the 1970s, bysingle-tracking and removing passingloops. On several routes, any attempt toprovide additional services now requirescostly investment in infrastructure. Andputting in new services means that morerolling stock is required, again at an often-prohibitive cost.

Neither of these are challenges that acommunity rail partnership can meet onits own. It needs Network Rail, theDepartment for Transport (and theScottish and Welsh Governments for theirrailways) to develop plans which give localrailways the ‘head room’ which allowsthem to continue growing and meet theneeds of local communities. Yetcommunity rail partnerships can play animportant lobbying role, based on therespect they have gained over the last twodecades. Community rail partnerships(CRPs), often resourced by localauthorities, are developing innovativelong-term strategies for their routes inareas as diverse as Devon and Cornwall,Lancashire, Mid-Wales and Cumbria.

The very locally-based work ofcommunity rail partnerships is stillimportant. In many parts of the country

‘community rail’ has been successful inintroducing rail travel to socially-excludedgroups. Volunteers have transformed theappearance of unstaffed stations throughfloral displays and artwork as well asensuring community information isdisplayed. It may be small beer but it’simportant in making the railway really‘feel’ like it’s part of a local community.And in many cases local railway staff haveplayed an enthusiastic part in helpingthese developments. At many smallerstaffed stations, railway men and womenhave worked with ‘station friends’ to maketheir stations look a delight. Examplesinclude Kidsgrove, Settle, Appleby,Glossop, Todmorden, Wemyss Bay,Littleborough, Poulton-le-Fylde and manymore.

And it’s these stations where there is areal risk of staff being reduced or removedaltogether. I’ve spoken to station friendsgroups up and down the country as wellas community rail partnership officers,about their views on this. And it is clearthere is unanimous opposition. The workof station friends and CRPs has alwaysbeen in addition to that done byprofessional railway staff, and thatrelationship has worked well. There is nodesire to take on booking office duties, letalone cleaning out the gents’ toilet.

So there’s an opportunity for the railunions, particularly TSSA and RMT, to workwith community rail groups to build acoalition of resistance to booking officeclosures. Instead of seeing ‘station friends’groups as at best irrelevant or at worst apotential threat to jobs, it’s time westarted talking to them and building uprelationships. Many ‘station friends’wouldn’t necessarily see themselves ascampaigners, but if someone came alongand threatened to take away their stationstaff, it might just tilt them into action.People feel passionate about their localstation and many station friends haveformed excellent relationships with paidstaff: losing them wouldn’t just be the lossof a ‘facility’, it would be the loss of amate. TSSA has been ahead of the game inrecruiting ‘community organisers’ andthey’ve done a great job. Now is the timeto start talking to ‘station friends’ acrossthe country and enlist their support in thefight against staff reductions.

For the community rail movement

generally, it needs to recognise that theunions are allies and that ‘community’includes the men and women who makeour railways work, day in and day out.Some of the CRPs have recognised that,even to the extent that some have railunion members actively involved.Yorkshire’s Penistone Line Partnership –one of Britain’s first – is chaired by amember of Aslef and TSSA member GarryKeyworth is a member of the committee.But there is so much more potential. So asuggestion to TSSA: Talk to localcommunity rail partnerships and inparticular the national Association ofCommunity Rail Partnerships. There is somuch more in common than you mightthink. 7

Paul Salveson is a member of TSSA’sYorkshire Ridings Branch and was generalmanager of the Association of CommunityRail Partnerships from its inception until2005. He was author of the report ‘NewFutures for Rural Rail’.

Music on the Penistone Line, with a localrock band – all Northern Rail employees –entertaining passengers

Paul Salveson

One of the winners celebrated byACoRP was Simon Clarke, of TSSA’sNorthern Rail Lancs & Cumbria branch,who won the photographycompetition. His image, of Mill Hillstation near Blackburn, celebrates thelaunch of an art project involving theEast Lancashire Community RailPartnership, a local artist, primaryschool children, a youth group andsenior citizens, working to reclaim asense of community ownership overthe station and improve safety.

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TRADE UNION AND LABOUR RELATIONS (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1992 (AMENDED)The above Act requires TSSA to produce the following statement to members

STATEMENT TO MEMBERS 2011

2011 2010£ £

Total income 6,271,353 12,186,252Total expenditure 9,048,416 6,875,425Membership income 4,196,417 4,227,504Political Fund income 161,455 165,239Political Fund expenditure 117,314 251,956General secretary’s salary and pension contributions 93,028 104,851General secretary (elect) salary and pension contributions 14,991

Total income is composed of 5,375,353 Association income896,000 Pension income

Total expenditure is composed of 6,777,416 Association and2,271,000 pension costs

THE AUDITORS of the Association, Sayer Vincent Accountants and Registered Auditors of 8 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2SJ, reported to themembers on the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2011 on 20 April 2012 and their report was as follows:

Independent Auditors Report to the members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ AssociationWE HAVE AUDITED the financial statements of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association for the year ended 31st December 2011 which comprise the BranchAccount, the Divisional Councils Account, the Self Organised Groups Account, the Political Fund Account, the Benevolent Fund Account, the ProvidentBenefit Fund, the Central Fund, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and related notes. The financial reporting framework that has been applied intheir preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

This report is made solely to the Union’s members as a body, in accordance with Section 36 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidated) Act19992. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Union’s members those matters we are required to state in an auditor’s reportand for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Union and the Union’smembers as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Respective responsibilities of Executive Committee and AuditorsAS EXPLAINED more fully in Executive Committee’s report, the Executive Committee are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and forbeing satisfied that they give a true and fair view. Our responsibility is to audit and express a view on the financial statements in accordance with applicablelaw and international Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices Boar’s Ethical Standards forAuditors.

Scope of the audit of the financial statementsAN AUDIT involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assurance that thefinancial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error. This includes an assessment of whether the accounting policiesare appropriate to the Union’s circumstances and have been consistently applied and adequately disclosed; the reasonableness of significant accountingestimates made by the Executive Committee; and the overall presentation of the financial statements. In addition we read all the financial and non-financialinformation in the Executive Committee’s report to identify material inconsistencies with the audited financial statements. If we become aware of anyapparent material misstatements or inconsistencies we consider the implication for our report.

Opinion on financial statementsIn our opinion the financial statementsl give a true and fair view of the state of the Union’s affairs as at 31st December 2011 and of its results for the year then endl have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice andl the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with Trade Union Law;

Matters on which we are required to report by exceptionWe have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidated) Act 1992 requires us to report toyou if, in our opinionsl the Union has not kept proper accounting records in accordance with Section 28 of the Act andl whether the Union has not maintained a satisfactory system of control over its transactions in accordance with that section andl whether the accounts to which the report relate do not agree with the accounting records

Sayer VincentChartered Accountants and Registered Auditors8 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2SJ20 April 2012

STATEMENTA MEMBER who is concerned that some irregularity may be occurring, or have occurred, in the conduct of the financial affairs of the union may take stepswith a view to investigating further, obtaining clarification and, if necessary, securing regularisation of that conduct.

The member may raise any such concern with such one or more of the following as it seems appropriate to raise it with: the officials of the union, thetrustees of the property of the union, the auditor or auditors of the union, the Certification Officer (who is an independent officer appointed by theSecretary of State) and the police.

Where a member believes that the financial affairs of the union have been or are being conducted in breach of the law or in breach of rules of the union andcontemplates bringing civil proceedings against the union or responsible officials or trustees, he should consider obtaining independent legal advice.

28 November 2012

f inance statement

Notes on the financialstatementEACH YEAR THE Association is obliged topublish a summary of its annual income andexpenditure. Under the relevant legislationthis summary income has to include staffpension scheme income as well as profits onsales of investments. The expendituresummary has to include all staff pensionscheme costs, despite the fact that the staffpension scheme solely exists to providepensions for Association staff. TheAssociation cannot use the staff pensionscheme funds to pay for its own activities.

In 2010 the Association changed itsInvestment Managers and sold its oldportfolio of unit trusts, stocks and shares andbought pooled funds. The profit from thosesales was included in the published incomefigure of £12,186,252, but this figure is anartificial one as the income from the sale wasthen reinvested in other investments.

The expenditure for 2011 shows a majorincrease of £1,916,000 to represent the costof the Association’s staff pension scheme.

TSSA Journal 29

awards

Gold medal for John BowenMANUEL CORTES PRESENTED a TSSA GoldMedallion to John Bowen in Cork on 18October. John has been a TSSA member for 42years and has been a very active member at alllevels of the Association. He has been: a localrep, branch officer and a member of the IrishDivisional Council, Irish Committee andExecutive Committee. John was a regular atmany TSSA conferences and continues toattend as a retired member. As well as hiscommitment to the trade union movement, he has also been very active in local andinternational social justice campaigns.

John Walsh (left) was awarded Honorary Life Membership whilst Roger Lock(right) was presented with a Silver Medallion at the Southampton meeting ofTSSA’s Wessex Branch on 17 September.

Monday 19 November 2012, 5.30–8.30pm

York, YO23 1AH

Snacks and drinks will be provided.

Directed by Gus Van Sant, this 2008

Francisco to build alliances and organise

please contact

Double presentation at Wessex Branch

30 November 2012

TSSA personal injury service

Member’s husband gets legal support“I was so relieved thatTSSA could help me aftermy accident.” Sophie had been shoppingat a leading supermarketchain when she wasbrutally injured. “I had been walking downthe aisle, pushing mytrolley and browsing theshelves. The next thing Iknew, I was knocked overand had the most awfulpain in my neck andshoulders.” Sophie had been struck bya crate that a staffmember was using. Theforce of the blow hadpushed her against theshelving and she suffereda wrenching injury to herneck, shoulders and arm. “It’s just not the sort ofthing you expect tohappen, but clearly it doeshappen quite often. Themonth after my accident, Iremember reading in thelocal paper that anotherwoman had been struckby a slab of baked beantins, full in the face.” Sophie, a controller andlongstanding member ofTSSA, decided to callTSSA’s injury helpline. “It’s run by MorrishSolicitors, who I’d usedbefore when I sold my flatto move to London.

Because I’d used the firmbefore, I was comfortablewith the idea of thembringing my injury claim.If I’d had to call one of theads from the TV, I don’tknow if I’d have seen itthrough. John at Morrishwas excellent, and a realprofessional.” Independent medicalevidence from aConsultant Orthopaedicsurgeon confirmedSophie’s injuries and John

contacted the supermarketchain. “At first they tried to saythey weren’t at fault,which was quite an eye-opener for me, I can tellyou. At the time ithappened, the accidenthad been reported in theiraccident book, so theyknew it had taken placeand they had thedescription on record.John was able to get themto admit liability and from

there on it was quitestraightforward.” The supermarket chainagreed to pay Sophie forher injuries and relatedfinancial losses. “Their initial offer wasquite low, a couple ofthousand I think. Johnadvised I turn it down itbecause it did not takeinto consideration theamount of time I had totake off work for myinjury. Using the medical

report, John was able toget me an offer of £7,050which I accepted. I am sovery grateful to TSSA andJohn at Morrish for all ofthe excellent help.” l Based on a real lifecase. Certain details havebeen altered to protectthe identity of the victim.Morrish Solicitors is aLimited LiabilityPartnership and regulatedby the SolicitorsRegulation Authority.

ACCIDENTS AT WORK ACCIDENTS OUTSIDE WORK ASSAULTS ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS SLIPS OR TRIPS OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE

TSSA Personal Injury ServicesFree to Members & their families

0800 093 0353

Accidents do not happen- they are caused!

As a member of the TSSA, should either you or your immediate family suffer injurythrough someone else’s negligence, you will be entitled to FREE legal advice andrepresentation from our specialist personal injury lawyers Morrish Solicitors LLP. No money will be deducted from any compensation recovered and no charge will bemade to you or your family for the advice and representation you receive.If you’d like to find out more, call us today and we will look after you.

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Q. I was off sick for nearly a yearafter a back operation, but when Itold my manager I was ready toreturn he said I couldn’t until Ihad seen their company doctor. Ittook a month to get thatappointment and all the time Iwas receiving no pay. He also saidthe 18 days leave I couldn’t takelast year had been cancelled.

A. If your doctor says you are fit towork then you should tell youremployer which day you intend toreturn. If they say you can’t forwhatever reason that is up to them,but as you are not sick (as you nolonger have a fit note), and you areready and willing to work then youremployer will have to pay you. Ifthat means you remain suspendedthen so be it. If they try to force youto get a further note from yourdoctor you should refuse, as you arenot sick, and your GP should notbe issuing fit notes if they don’tthink you are sick. As you weren’tallowed to resume, but you didn’tget a further note, you shouldsubmit a grievance on the groundsof unlawful deduction of wages.Had your GP given you anothernote you would not have beenentitled to payment.

If you couldn’t take yourstatutory leave because of sicknessthey cannot take it off you, theymust let you carry it forward. TheEuropean Court of Justice, whichhas ruled on this, does not seem todifferentiate between statutory andcontractual leave, but how yourcontractual leave (all your leaveover and above the statutory leave)is dealt with will depend on yourcontract. You would have to check itto see whether they will let youcarry it forward or whether you canbe paid in lieu.

Q. I resigned from my oldcompany to take up a new job,only to be told the day I startedthat they were moving it to a newlocation. The company refuses tolet me commute as they say it istoo far, and I am unable to movebecause of school commitments.The new company must haveknown about the move but chosenot to tell me at the interview. Isthere anything I can do?

A. As the work has moved,technically you are redundant, butwith less than two years service youare not entitled to redundancy pay.However, you should be offered asuitable alternative where possible.The argument is over what issuitable. You consider the job in thenew location suitable, despite theincreased travelling time, theemployer doesn’t. This is theexact opposite of whatusually happens, wherebyan employer tries to getout of paying redundancyby claiming any old job isa suitable alternative.

Unless there is a clausein your contract sayingyou must live within acertain distance of whereyou work then I don’t seehow they can impose a limiton your commuting time. It alsobegs the question of what happensif somebody alreadyworking there andliving nearby decidesto move to a locationtwo hours away. Willthey be dismissed?However, that is notyour immediateproblem, which isthat as you startedafter 1 April this year, you

cannot take any breach of contractclaim to an employment tribunalfor two years. You should stillsubmit a grievance over the way youhave been treated, and aim to getthem to acknowledge that you havebeen treated appallingly and waivetheir petty restriction, or at leastallow you to travel for a reasonabletime until a suitable position comesup.

The answer to your question isthere is probably nothing you cando other than the grievance. It maybe possible to pursue a claim thatthe imposition of a travel limit is abreach of contract through a civilcourt, but further legal advicewould be necessary on that.

TSSA Journal 31

helpdesk

If you have a question about your workplace rights, call our employment law specialists on 0800 3282673in the UK or 1800 805272 in the Republic of Ireland or email helpdesk@tssa.org.ukHours: Monday to Thursday 8am–6pm Friday 8am–5pm

0800 3282673/1800 805272

Forced to be ‘sick’ when ready for work

UK

Republic of Ireland

32 November 2012

letters

See you on the march!Thank you andcongratulations for theexcellent Septemberedition of the TSSAJournal. I particularlyliked the in-deptharticles by ManuelCortes, Christian Wolmarand the unattributedpiece ‘The simple casefor investment not cuts’which put the pointsacross in a clear andconcise way. I now muchbetter understand thatthere are alternativeeconomic policies toausterity, the benefits oflarge capital investmentand am also encouragedto join the march(again!) in October.Carl OsborneTfL Central branch

Measure more thangrowthI agree with ManuelCortes that wedesperately need achange of direction ineconomic policy. But Idisagree with him thatgrowth in national wealth(GDP) is the answer.

I would far prefer touse the current crises toquestion the very basis ofour capitalist, growth-obsessed economicsystem. We are stillconsuming (and wasting),eating, driving and flyingtoo much for our owngood or that of theplanet. We should bechampioning a neweconomic system whichdelivers what people need

and not what they aretold they want. Weshould stop relying onthe growth of GDP as ouronly measure of success.

The time seems ideal tocampaign for the creationof new indices such asGross Social Product whichwould reflect crime levels,income inequality, prisonpopulation, doctors perhead of population etc.Gross EnvironmentalProduct would measuresuch things as CO2

emissions, air travel vstrain vs car travel and waterquality. All three measureswould be released at thesame time to show thetrade offs betweeneconomic growth, socialhealth and environmentalsustainability.

So instead of marchingfor simply more of thesame, I would prefer myunion to lead a marchthat has a goal ofchanging our basicassumptions about whatour economy is toprovide to society.Jon BurdenNetwork Rail NorthLondon branch

Dismissals are usuallymade for good reasonsI disagree with much ofyour article on VirginTrains. I am no fan ofRichard Branson himselfbut, as a frequent user ofthe Virgin service, myperception is that it hasimproved enormouslyover the last ten years orso.

I see you highlight asingle incident where aVirgin employee fell foulof management and feelsaggrieved. You condemnthe whole company forthat. My guess is that thisis six of one and half adozen of the other –dismissals are usuallymade for good reasons.Anyway, he is just one ofthousands of employeesand, from what I see onthe Virgin trains, most ofthem seem to be happy intheir work.

I have a feeling thatTSSA just has not movedon from the ‘good olddays’ of British Rail, forwhom, I worked foralmost 30 years. BR wasspending taxpayers cashand treating it asMonopoly money – itwas a disgrace and badfor taxpayers. The cost ofrail travel should fall onpassengers and not thetaxpayer. What is thepoint of Governmentsubsidising rail travel? Ron HavenhandSuperannuated member

Editor’s reply: I doubt themany members who haveinternal appeals andemployment tribunalsfinding in their favourwould benefit much fromtheir union having astarting point that‘dismissals are usuallymade for good reasons’.When employers fall shortof their legal obligations,we are unambiguously onthe side of members.

Costs going up?Every year at TSSA’sAnnual Conferencebefore we take a vote onan increase in subs we'retold how membershipnumbers of our unionare seriously dwindling.We’re also being warnedon different occasionsabout upcoming heavyjob losses in ourindustry as a result ofgovernment cuts whichcould mean furtherreduction of ourmembership.

Finding out that fourassistant generalsecretaries have beenappointed, I can see we’refast moving to become aunion with the top-heavymanagement structurethat we slate our owncompanies for having.Before you know it TSSAwill have moremanagement thanmembers.Sharon SimmondsUndergroundInfrastructure branch

Editor’s reply: The newstaff structure has replacedseveral posts which wereon the same pay grade asassistant general secretary(such as heads ofdepartments) with fourposts which now have aconsistent title. Otherposts have been deletedresulting in anticipatedsavings of around£100,000 a year.

letters

This is your chance to share your views with thousands of other TSSA members. The deadline for the next issue is 10 December. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. Email journal@tssa.org.uk or write to TSSA Journal, WalkdenHouse, 10 Melton Street, London, NW1 2EJ.