Labour Research July 2006

Union news

Brady fails to get ASLEF job back

Sean Brady, the sacked general secretary of ASLEF rail union, will not be reinstated to the post, as his expulsion from membership of the union has been upheld.

Brady was dismissed as general secretary in 2004 following the infamous “barbeque” fighting incident, among other matters, but that dismissal was later ruled to be unfair by an employment tribunal.

However, the tribunal could not order ASLEF to reinstate Brady, as he had been expelled from the union and non-members are ineligible for the post of general secretary.

Brady applied to the certification officer to rule against his expulsion, but his application failed as it was out of time.

Jeremy Dear has been re-elected unopposed as general secretary of the National Union of Journalists. Dear said: “I was very proud to be elected to be elected the first time in 2001, but to be re-elected unopposed is a tremendous honour and is a testament to the massive progress the union has made in recent years.”