Cuckoos do not have a right to nest

There was a real sense of shock when the Anti-Nazi League rang us to say that a train driver, Jay Lee, was standing in local elections as a British National Party candidate. We checked our membership list with fingers crossed hoping, for once, that this driver would be one of the tiny minority who are not ASLEF members. No luck. He was — and somehow we all felt a sense of shame, as if the union had been tainted. It seemed incomprehensible to us that anyone could espouse the values both of a trade union and of a far-right party with a reputation for racism.

The union’s values, clearly expressed in its rule book, are clearly in conflict with anything the BNP advocates. One campaigns for an end to prejudice and has as its central core value a belief in equality; the other breathes and breeds conflict based on colour, creed and sexuality.

The executive expelled Mr Lee from the union on the basis that you cannot expect to be a member of an organisation to which you are totally opposed.

It was almost with disbelief that we heard the Labour government proclaiming that any individual has the right to belong to any union he or she chooses. The argument was that an individual’s rights must overrule the collective rights of thousands of union members.

The union took the case to the European Court which, mindful of its responsibilities to maintain freedom of association, overturned the UK government’s decision and awarded costs of 54,000 euros to ASLEF. We were pleased, obviously, but we did not really celebrate the verdict, because the correct decision had always seemed blindingly obvious. I think we all felt rather embarrassed for a Labour government so obsessed with individual rights that it failed to see the glaringly bloody obvious.

It can now make amends by ensuring that the Employment Simplification Bill accurately reflects the European Court’s ruling — and ends unjustified interference with union autonomy.

Keith Norman, General Secretary, ASLEF.