Mick Whelan
| Use attributes for filter ! | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Age | 64 |
| Date of birth | January 1,1960 |
| Education | The London Oratory School |
| Date of Reg. | |
| Date of Upd. | |
| ID | 1634110 |
Mick Whelan Life story
John Michael Whelan is the General Secretary of the British trade union ASLEF. He became the 18th General Secretary of ASLEF in 2011.
Train strikes: Drivers vote to continue walkouts
... Mick Whelan, Aslef s general secretary, said the union was " in this for the long haul"...
Train drivers announce fresh round of strikes
... Every time they vote - and they have voted overwhelmingly - for strike action in pursuit of a proper pay rise it is a clear rejection of the offer that was made in April, " said Aslef s general secretary Mick Whelan...
Fewer trains to run from London to Manchester
... Mick Whelan, its general secretary, said: " Avanti West Coast is yet again letting passengers, and the taxpayer down...
Train strikes set to cause travel disruption
... But on Thursday, Aslef s secretary general Mick Whelan said he would not rule out further strike action in the Christmas period, adding that the union was willing to talk to rail companies, but " no-one s interested, they don t want a resolution"...
Train drivers strikes could continue in to Christmas, as fresh disruption begins
... Aslef s Mick Whelan told the BBC he did not believe the government or industry wanted a resolution...
Train drivers announce two more strike days
... Mick Whelan, general secretary, said while the union regretted striking again, " the government, and the employers, have forced us into this position"...
Train strikes: Passengers face disruption from two strike days
... Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said he thought further industrial action was " inevitable"...
Train strikes to hit major events like Reading and Leeds festivals
... Ticket office closuresOn Wednesday, Aslef boss Mick Whelan hit out at operator plans to close ticket offices, accusing the government of endangering lives by " de-staffing" the railway...
Fewer trains to run from London to Manchester
Train operator Avanti West Coast will be cancelling nearly 20 services every Saturday Between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly until The End of the year.
It had earlier announced plans to scrap two in five of the trains it runs on the popular route from December 9.
However The Bbc understands the reduced timetable will start immediately.
Avanti blamed a shortage of train crew due to historic leave agreements and ongoing industrial disputes.
Avanti West Coast is joint owned by First Group and Trenitalia. It typically runs around 50 services - roughly three an hour at the busiest times - Between London and Manchester every weekday.
A similar number of services also run on Saturdays, but from next week that is being reduced to just 30 trains.
Avanti said it is working hard to minimise disruption.
Train operators must keep cancellations below a certain level to fulfil their contracts, and a failure to do so could lead to them being fined and possibly stripped of The Contract .
But if ministers agree to temporarily reduced services - known as " short-term planning arrangements" the cancellations do not appear in official statistics.
Avanti did not confirm it has sought such an arrangement, but The Department for Transport confirmed that planned timetable reductions until 1 January 2024 were agreed " in accordance with the requirements set out in Avanti's contract".
A spokesperson added: " Despite progress since Last Year , Avanti still needs to further improve and we continue to hold it to account for matters within its control.
" Traincrew shortages, linked to train drivers on average £60,000 salaries refusing to work overtime, highlight the need for modernisation across the wider railway that is being resisted by unions.
" The temporary timetable changes were necessary to minimise short-notice cancellations due to traincrew shortages and to accommodate engineering works that will maintain and improve the resilience of The Network . "
An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: " We have been seeing some short-notice cancellations on our network and would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.
" We know this is not good enough and are working hard to make sure we can minimise these cancellations. "
But Aslef, The Union which represents train drivers, was scathing about The Changes .
Mick Whelan , its General Secretary , said: " Avanti West Coast is Yet Again letting passengers, and the taxpayer down. The Problem is The Company does not employ enough drivers to deliver the services it is contracted, and has promised, to run.
" Avanti West Coast needs to do The Right thing, by staff, by passengers, and by the taxpayer. "
Related TopicsSource of news: bbc.com
Mick Whelan Photos
