1975: Giro writer, DHSS
1979: PA to HR director of railways, London Transport (LT)1983: Employee relations manager, engineering, LT
1996: General manager, strategic employee relations, London Underground
1999: HR director, South West Trains (SWT)
Beverley Shears has trains in her blood. She has spent over 20 years in the business, and there was a time when her entire immediate family all worked for the railways. Shes also a strong believer in trade unionism and was a member of the Transport Salaried Staff Association until she took on her current role, when, she says, membership became inappropriate.
Now, as SWTs HR director, Shears spends a great deal of her time in negotiations with the railway unions and in particular, with the RMT.
Relations between the company and the union are fraught. The recent election of a left-wing activist as general secretary has come hot on the heels of a spate of high-profile strikes.
It all sounds like the stuff of an HR directors nightmare. But in fact, Shears and the RMTs new general secretary, Bob Crow, are friends and have known each other for nearly 20 years. Just after Crows interview and just before Shears they bumped into each other on the platform at Kings Cross station, where Crow teased Shears that he hadnt said anything nice about her.
I met Bob in about 1983 when I was employee relations manager for engineering and he was a local union rep, says Shears. It was clear then that he was going to go far he could turn around a room in five minutes with his rhetoric. Since then, our careers have almost twinned each other.
Perhaps its not surprising they get on so well. Shears is held in high regard by all the unions she deals with. Part of the reason I got this job, according to my managing director, was the references I received from the trade unions, she says. They were asked, at general secretary level, whether I could do the job. They all said yes that I was tough but fair.
Like Crow, Shears believes that trust and honesty, and being direct and open are of prime importance in negotiations. They both say that they want the best for SWT employees Crow for those he represents, and Shears for all of them. This is a crucial difference, she comments.
The people you see across the union negotiating table are white, working-class men. Our workforce is much more diverse than that. Its difficult to get the unions to prioritise things like maternity leave or flexible working because thats not the traditional way of doing things. There can be a bit of an attitude.
But despite obvious professional differences, Shears and Crow have no problem with communication. Ive always got on really well with Bob on a personal level, she says. Were quite similar characters and we both genuinely have peoples interests at heart. We always used to joke that we could actually exchange jobs because we both have the requisite experience.
While a job-swap is unlikely to be on the cards, this level of respect is far from the traditional mistrust and fear that typified the old management/union relationships of the 70s.
And while Crow has been portrayed in some national newspapers as a hardline, unreasonable bruiser, this, says Shears, is far from the truth. In the 20 years Ive known Bob Ive never heard him raise his voice. There have been people throughout my career who have become mentally or even physically abusive with me. Hes always sorted them out without using violence, by frogmarching them over to apologise.
Bob Crow
1976: Junior track worker, London Underground (LU)
1983: Union rep, track workers, LU
1992: National executive commitee member, LU
1994: Assistant general secretary, Railway and Maritime Workers Union (RMT)
2002: General secretary, RMT
National newspaper reports have branded Bob Crow, the new general secretary of the RMT, a wrecker, Trot and hard-left nutter.
He can be outspoken. He makes no secret of his politics, which are far left of centre although he no longer belongs to any political party, he has been both a Communist and a member of Arthur Scargills Socialist Labour Party. He has also said, on many occasions, that he wants the railways re-nationalised.
But politics aside, Crow remains a straightforward working-class man who sees his job as simply to look after his members interests. He grew up in the East End of London, his father a docker and union member. His background is similar to Shears shes working-class too, from South London. She started working aged 18 as a giro writer for the DHSS, Crow began at 16 as a junior trackman on the London Underground.
I used to love the work, he says. I liked the environment of not being sexist all lads together, finishing work and going for a few pints with your mates, fantastic.
He met Beverley Shears about eight years later. Shes known me since I was a local rep, he says. Around about the time we first met, my wife had a serious car accident and she [Shears] actually sent one of the managers round to see if we were alright. Its clear that he both remembers and appreciates that gesture.
Beverley is an honest and sincere woman, he adds. She represents the employer though that doesnt mean shes not in it for her staff but she has to put the management point of view over. But even when we disagree, we can have a good honest disagreement and sort the problems out.
Crow sets a great deal of store on being straight. Im a very simple bloke at the end of the day. he states. I dont like dragging out negotiations, Id rather ask how much the company has got and whether we divide it between pay and annual leave and sick pay. I dont like shadowboxing.
Crow refuses to criticise personalities and gets increasingly hot under the collar about personal mudslinging. Hes not so circumspect when it comes to the companies themselves. I think that the company [SWT] sometimes tries to conduct negotiations in a secret fashion, he adds. That causes jealousy, resentment, bitterness.
Ask him about John Monks oft-quoted stance on partnership between unions and employers and hes equally belligerent. No ones ever defined to me what partnership really means, he says. If it means we have to give up our right to take strike action then no, we arent partners.
But get him onto more personal matters and the hard man image recedes. He jogs often five times a week for relaxation. He watches soap operas. He likes to get home to see his two youngest children before they go to bed. One thing I am going to change now Im general secretary is make sure I ask my wife what her days been like too, he adds.
And its this affable side that comes across when he talks about Shears. He respects both her values and her ability to do her job. I dont get involved in personalities, but shes a trustworthy, decent person to deal with, he says. Its just that shes the gamekeeper and Im the poacher.
