[antiwar-van] Train Drivers Refuse to Move Arms Freight (fwd)

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Subject: Train Drivers Refuse to Move Arms Freight

 published on Thursday, January 9, 2003 by the Guardian/UK
Anti-War Train Drivers Refuse to Move Arms Freight
by Kevin Maguire

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 Defense 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 organizing a second national demonstration in
central London on Saturday February 15. Organizers claimed more than
400,000 people attended a protest in September.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003