Dave Bacon interviewed by Matthew Singh

Interview with Dave Bacon recorded by Matthew Singh on 23 November 2024 at Luton Central Library, Luton. Duration: 1hr 04min 45secs. Childhood, father in the army; life in Croydon then, Norbury, schools attended; early career, jobs before joining railways, Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP); application for London Transport via an acquaintance, no vacancies due to move to One-man Operation (OMO) or One-person operation (OPO) on London buses, London Underground (LU) recruitment process guard role; personal connection and interest in railways; LU colleagues; role of guard, first experience, guard at London Bridge Station, station guard at Elephant and Castle, rostered, paired with a driver, outdated structure and agreements for underground lines; [00:13:56] guard trainer role, enjoying training others; how he became a train driver, training, guard motorman; social aspects of driver/guard roles on LU, train crews relations, Bakerloo line depots, how he dealt confidently with unpleasant/offensive colleagues; 1989, Bakerloo line made OPO, driver until career break in 2007; back from career break, trauma support role, ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) pushed for LU to have trauma support group/emotional first aid; expectations he would reprise trade union rep role; 2008, Operational Manager, Golders Green, until retirement 2024; reasons for becoming a trade union rep, person-under-train incident (PUT), suicide on the line, lack of support at work; challenges and activities as a union rep, example Equality act, obtaining female toilets; his wit and confidence dealing with homophobia; supporting others, example supporting gay colleague coming out; [00:24:03] homophobia in railways, abusive comments, slurs/offensive language, LGBTQIA+ people often not out at work; support amongst gay colleagues, pink depots on LU; how AIDS/HIV crisis was handled by the railways, trade union pushed for change; coming out to family; responding to offensive comments; bisexuality; suicide on the line, support from his partner, coming out, social life and gay clubs, meeting closeted gay colleagues; example dealing with homophobic colleague; 1989, meeting his partner and prior, impact of HIV/AIDS on gay relationships; bisexuality; pink depots, gay colleagues often in crew together, explaining ‘royal crew’, how they worked out colleagues could be gay/LGBTQIA+, socialisation; returning to railways after career break; Mick Rix (Michael Rix) ASLEF General Secretary and Martin Samways, consultive committees, inclusivity, fighting discrimination; finding out he was gay, support from partner when person-under-train incident, how trauma was dealt with at work then; transport industry attracted gay people as a workplace; less homophobia but still exist; example recent harassment case; [00:43:29]; reasons for becoming a union rep, defending others; anecdote being introduced to colleagues he already knew, his way of tackling offensive/undesirable comments/opinions from others; ASLEF, consultative committees (also representative committees or equality committees), hostility from homophobic union reps; successes and issues, ASLEF first gay magazine, consultative committees, pension rights for same-sex couples; ASLEF structure, 8 districts, underground and railway; equality course in Sheffield with Fire Brigade Union [FBU], similarities between fire brigade and railway; protesting change in General Secretaries; ASLEF General Secretaries, Shaun Brady, Martin Samways, differences in their support towards consultative committees, impact of political change on organisation; Facing Points newsletter/magazine to reach out to LGBTQIA+ ASLEF members, impact and outreach of magazine, mailing list, safe contact for people to reach out, case of how executive committee supported an employee suffering homophobic abuse from union rep who refused to represent them at a disciplinary [end of interview]

This interview was made as part of People Pride and Progress (PPP) project. The project was initiated in 2023 to record the stories and memories of the LGBTQIA+ community in a new oral history archive over two years. It aimed to connect past, present and future through intergenerational interviews, offering opportunities for colleagues across all parts of the rail industry to connect, reflect on and learn from each other’s lived experiences while creating an archive of oral history interviews.