Militant train unions have left passengers stuck in the 20th century

Andy Burnham discovered that Northern Rail continues to use fax machines to contact its train crews
Andy Burnham discovered that Northern Rail continues to use fax machines to contact its train crews - Christopher Furlong/Getty

Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester’s mayor, was astonished to discover the other day that Northern Rail, the recently nationalised passenger operator, continues to use fax machines to contact its train crews.

This is apparently because of a decades-old agreement with the trade unions. The managing director of Northern, Tricia Williams, told a meeting of Rail North that they couldn’t switch to newer communications technology without renegotiating arrangements.

Burnham huffed and puffed and couldn’t see why it was so difficult to sort this out. But then he doesn’t have to deal with the railway unions on a daily basis. Their obduracy arguably played a major role in damaging any prospects for the successful operation of the previous franchise of this part of the rail network.

The late industrial relations academic, Allan Flanders, described union ambitions as “joint regulation” of the workplace. Rather than management deciding how to organise and reward work, powerful unions expect to have every aspect of the job subject to an agreement which management must adhere to.

Any necessary changes have to be newly negotiated, a time-consuming process which typically expands from the issue ostensibly under discussion to other work issues, including complaints about the behaviour of ‘bullying’ managers and grievances over 101 other matters.

Years ago, probably long after most other organisations had started using faxes, the unions agreed to use this new-fangled technology instead of their previous means of communication (telegrams? carrier pigeons?). On past form they probably won’t agree to a change without some concession from management, perhaps restrictions on the times they can be contacted, increased rest breaks, retraining to use laptops, subsidised mobile phones and so forth. So you can see why Northern’s management team has let sleeping faxes lie.

In most of the private sector, pettifoggery over simple matters – reminiscent of Peter Sellers’ famous turn in the classic I’m All Right Jack – has gone the way of the steam engine. But it still remains the 1950s to the railway unions.

We’ve all heard stories of absurdities such as lunch breaks having to be restarted if a manager dares to speak to railway workers having their sausages and chips, and teams of engineers having to be sent to change a plug. Some of these anecdotes are probably twaddle, of course.

But there is no doubt that on key issues such as rostering at weekends (in a changed post-Covid world where Saturdays and Sundays are now the busiest times on the railways), unnecessarily demarcated and outdated maintenance procedures, excessive staffing of ticket offices, unnecessary guards on commuter trains, and delays to accepting new rolling stock, unions resist changes which would boost productivity, improve service to passengers and help reduce the massive subsidies which taxpayers continue to shovel into the industry.

Rail unions are prepared to use the strike weapon more frequently and effectively in defence of the status quo than most other groups. This militancy dates back well over a hundred years and disputes are often over surprisingly similar issues to those which motivated earlier generations of rail workers.

Long-running national strikes by ASLEF drivers were bought off by a generous pay settlement from the new government. But these problems are not going away. Next week, unless Sadiq Khan can find extra millions in his cookie jar, London may see a more or less complete shutdown of the underground brought about by combined action by RMT and ASLEF.

While common sense might suggest it’s long past time to reform the inefficient and expensive railways and reduce the powers of their overbearing unions, Labour seems to be going in completely the opposite direction. Pay deals are being made with no commitment to reform, and the government is bringing forward measures aimed squarely at increasing the power of the unions.

It is going to be made easier to achieve union recognition. It is going to be made easier to call strikes – as hurdles about voting turnout are removed – and a strike mandate will now last for a year without the need for another vote.

Unions are to be given the power to enter real and virtual workplaces to recruit members, and there will be more facility time for union representatives within businesses to promote equality, diversity and inclusion – which will presumably involve attempting to tie management to commitments to meet union demands.

So although the use of fax machines to alert drivers to changes in work scheduling may seem an amusing anachronism, it speaks of a continuing problem of reforming industrial relations and reconfiguring a huge industry which is in many ways still stuck in the last century.