Aslef staff threaten strike

A union chief today threatened to sack his own London headquarters white-collar staff if they go on strike after lodging claims of harassment and bullying.

Now the rapidly escalating row is set to cause major problems for train drivers' union Aslef, one of the few unions with any real industrial muscle.

It threatens to tear the union apart amid allegations of attempts to undermine Shaun Brady, the Right-wing leader who recently deposed Mick Rix, one of the so-called awkward squad of hard-Left union chiefs.

Mr Brady, in turn, complains of "financial irregularities" within the union.

The dispute puts 16,500-member Aslef on a collision course with the 700,000-strong GMB, Britain's third largest union, which represents the Aslef HQ staff.

Aslef, which in the past has ordered strikes on both Tube and mainline rail services, now faces having its own staff picket its wood-panelled Hampstead HQ.

The hilltop property was once the elegant townhouse of conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, who rehearsed the Halle Orchestra in its magnificent ballroom. In recent years, however, the ballroom has echoed to the sound of union chiefs thumping the table and ordering trains to stop.

Mr Brady, a former driver for South West Trains and self-confessed Blairite, took over the Aslef leadership in October. He brought matters to a head with the 30 HQ staff in a letter last month, warning he would sack them if they strike for longer than the eight weeks allowed by law.

Paul Kenny, a senior London official of the GMB, said Mr Brady was threatening to replace the staff with workers on worse conditions.

Mr Kenny said: "I doubt if Aslef has ever had to deal with such bad employers itself. This is the worst behaviour I have seen in 25 years."

In a statement, Mr Brady insisted: "It gives me no pleasure to have to spell out the consequences of industrial action. But there are serious issues, including financial irregularities, that have to be addressed."

And he claimed: "This disagreement is being orchestrated by a

small number of supporters of the former general secretary who are hell-bent on disrupting the work of this union and have sought to use the opportunity to try and engineer a strike."

Mr Brady accused the GMB of failing to provide a specific reason for the strike ballot and of not following agreed procedures. He said GMB representatives had refused his request for a meeting.

The HQ staff say they are worried about job losses. Mr Brady said the dispute was being "manufactured by people unhappy with the result of an Aslef internal election".