Credit where it is due ? I don't think so.

I was interested to read an article shared from the TfL intranet highlighting that, for the first time, drivers with red-green colour deficiency (which used to be described as colour blindness) can work on the Northern line. This is a really positive development. Already in place on the Jubilee line, it ends a long-outdated restriction that prevented people from pursuing the career they wanted for no valid reason.

So, what is there to carp about? Well, while the article—accompanied by a photo of a cheerful-looking group of managers and trainers—briefly mentions “Trade Union colleagues”, it fails to say that it was ASLEF Health and Safety reps who pushed for this change for years before management took any action. And it certainly doesn’t record that ASLEF had to raise the issue at Director level on three separate occasions before barriers and delays at line level were dealt with!

I am a firm believer in the principle that “it is amazing what you can achieve if you don’t care who gets the credit”. But I do think the hard work and determination of the ASLEF local and Tier 2 reps who pushed so hard to make this happen should be acknowledged.

Why does it matter? Trade Union members and reps are used to being pilloried as lazy or greedy. But the reality is that every day they are striving to make the world a better place;

improving working conditions, making workplaces safer, and helping to drive fairness and opportunity.

I am glad to see the managers involved in the project get acknowledged. One in particular deserves it for the work he put in when facing the indifference of others. So too do the Trade Union Health & Safety reps whom management so often choose to ignore.

Finn Brennan

ASLEF District Organiser.