[A-List] Fw: [targets-news] Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freight

["Christopher Black" <bar@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 3:41 AM
Subject: [targets-news] Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freight


> Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freight
> By Kevin Maguire
> Reprinted from 'The Guardian," Thursday January 9, 2003
> [Posted 11 Janurary 2002]
> ==========================================================
>
> [Note from Emperor's Clothes: Assuming that the claim by Railway
> officials' that no work action took place is false - and this claim
> certainly does seem to be false - then this news is most heartening:
> ordinary people putting their jobs on the line to oppose the threat
> of war.
> - Jared Israel]
>
> ****
>
> Train drivers yesterday refused to move a freight train carrying
> ammunition believed to be destined for British forces being deployed
> in the Gulf.
>
> Railway managers cancelled the Ministry of Defence service after the
> crewmen, described as "conscientious objectors" by a supporter, said
> they opposed Tony Blair's threat to attack Iraq.
>
> The anti-war revolt is the first such industrial action by workers
> for decades.
>
> The two Motherwell-based drivers declined to operate the train
> between the Glasgow area and the Glen Douglas base on Scotland's west
> coast, Europe's largest Nato weapons store.
>
> English Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS), which transports munitions
> for the MoD as well as commercial goods, yesterday attempted to
> persuade the drivers to move the disputed load by tomorrow.
>
> Leaders of the Aslef rail union were pressed at a meeting with EWS
> executives to ask the drivers to relent. But the officials of a union
> opposed to any attack on Iraq are unlikely to comply.
>
> The two drivers are understood to be the only pair at the Motherwell
> freight depot trained on the route of the West Highland Line.
>
> An EWS spokesman declined to confirm the train had been halted,
> although he insisted no drivers had refused to take out the trains.
>
> "We don't discuss commercial issues," he said.
>
> "The point about the two drivers is untrue and we don't discuss
> issues about meetings we have."
>
> Yet his claim was flatly contradicted by a well-placed rail industry
> source who supplied the Guardian with the train's reference number.
>
> The MoD later said it had been informed by EWS that mechanical
> problems, caused by the cold winter weather, had resulted in the
> train's cancellation.
>
> One solution under discussion yesterday between the MoD and EWS was
> to transport the shipment by road to avoid what rail managers hoped
> would be an isolated confrontation.
>
> Dockers went on strike rather than load British-made arms on to ships
> destined for Chile after the assassination of leftwing leader
> Salvador Allende in 1973.
>
> In 1920 stevedores on London's East India Docks refused to move guns
> on to the Jolly George, a ship chartered to take weapons to anti-
> Bolsheviks after the Russian revolution.
>
> Trade unions supporting workers who refuse to handle weapons could
> risk legal action and possible fines for contempt of court.
>
> Lindsey German, convener of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "We
> fully support the action that has been taken to impede an unjust and
> aggressive war. We hope that other people around the country will be
> able to do likewise."
>
> The anti-war group is organising a second national demonstration in
> central London on Saturday February 15. Organisers claimed more than
> 400,000 people attended a protest in September.
>
> (c) 2002 The Guardian * Posted for educational use only
>
> URL is http://emperors-clothes.com/news/brit-train.htm
>
>
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