"Moderate" wins shock victory in ASLEF ballot

The leftward shift among union leaderships went off track last month when train drivers' union ASLEF took a right turn in its general secretary election.

Incumbent Mick Rix - known as one of the "awkward squad" though a strong supporter of keeping the union in the Labour Party - was surprisingly ousted by Shaun Brady, who campaigned on a "moderate" ticket. Brady took 58% of the vote in the two-sided contest, even though he had secured only 11 branch nominations before the ballot compared to 83 for Rix.

Brady, who takes over on 19 October, said he would put pay and conditions at the top of his agenda and would avoid political campaigns. Under Rix the union had played a prominent part in the Stop the War campaign.

However, another union, the PCS civil service union, moved dramatically to the left last month when the left-wing Democracy Coalition won 34 seats on the union's national executive against nine to the rival "moderate" grouping. The moderates had previously dominated with 28 of the seats.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka welcomed the result because of "the stability it will bring to the union allowing us to step up our campaigning on improving members' pay, conditions, job security and pensions".