Now bosses of ‘sickie strike’ rail union give themselves a 15% pay rise!

LEADERS of a transport union linked to a spate of ‘sickie strikes’ on the railways have enjoyed pay rises averaging 15 per cent in a year, it emerged last night.

Members of the Aslef train drivers’ union are accused of repeatedly calling in sick to cripple rail services on the Southern network.

Company bosses say the series of sick days amounts to unofficial strike action – over the firm’s plan to give control of train doors to drivers instead of conductors.

Official documents seen by the Mail show the pay of the union’s executive committee rose by a total of about £32,000 to £233,542 – a 15 per cent increase from 2014 to 2015.

Separately, Mick Whelan, the union’s general secretary, enjoyed a 5 per cent pay rise worth £6,335. That took his total pay, including pension contributions worth

‘Passengers deserve better’

nearly £23,000, to £128,126 last year. And the pay for the post of union president nearly doubled. Incumbent Tosh McDonald, who once called Jeremy Corbyn ‘the messiah’ was paid £31,995 in 2015, compared with the £16,531 paid to his predecessor, Alan Donnelly, in 2014.

In an address to members, reported in the Aslef journal earlier this month, Mr McDonald said last year’s Labour leadership race was transformed when ‘the messiah, JC, Jeremy Corbyn, came along and we knew we could support him’.

He added: ‘We were the first trade union to support Jeremy Corbyn, the first trade union to support Tom Watson for deputy leader, and the first trade union to support Sadiq Khan as London mayor. What a hat-trick!’

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Jeremy Quin, the MP for Horsham, said his constituents ‘ have been struggling with the impact of unofficial industrial action on our railways – not over jobs, not over wages, but over who gets to press a button’.

Mr Cameron condemned ‘ any industrial action that disrupts the travelling public, and rail passengers will not thank the RMT and Aslef for their recent unnecessary disruption’. He added: ‘Frankly, the performance of Southern has been unacceptable and passengers deserve better.’

The Prime Minister suggested commuters would be given ‘ more generous compensation’ as a result of the recent disruption.

Last night Tory MP Henry Smith said: ‘It’s yet more evidence of the fat cat union bosses putting greed above the needs of their hardworking members. Rail services take a hit when irresponsible unions take rear-guard action and commuters will be livid to see this sort of excess. The unions should put an end to the chaos they are inflicting … and help improve the service, not their inflation-busting pay deals.’

Aslef said pay for members of the executive committee was dependent on how many days they worked for the union and what they earned as train drivers.

The union also insists there has been no increase in sickness among drivers in recent months.

An Aslef spokesman said: ‘We are independently audited and the union’s finances are scrutinised by the finance committee, including the trustees, monthly and adopted at our annual conference, both of which are membership-led, and where all expenditure is scrutinised.’

He said Mr McDonald ‘gets compensation for the monies he loses when operating for the union and not driving trains and his potential income is greater working for his substantive employer’.

The spokesman added that the union was demanding a retraction from the Prime Minister, saying there had been ‘no increase in sickness’ among train drivers.

Aslef brought London to a standstill last year when the Tube network was shut down over demands for more money in return for accepting a 24-hour service.