JOURNEY OF A RAILWAYMAN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2019 :: RMTnews 26 When Tony Donaghey crossed the Irish Sea in search of work he ended up at St Pancras Station in a job that would last him a lifetime, earning him official recognition more than four decades later as its longest serving railway worker. So when he was barred from entering the station to take part in a BBC interview during St Pancras International Station’s grand opening in 2007 he was more than a little annoyed. “It was a ridiculous situation,” he recalls chuckling. “I had been stepping in and out of there for 47 years and now some job’s worth was telling me I needed a pass to get in. I didn’t know anything about a pass but I knew I had an appointment to attend and stood my ground. In the end I was allowed through.” Getting the better part of an argument is nothing new for Tony. After starting work as a guard on Midland line trains in 1960, he became a union member, rising through the ranks over the years to become president of the RMT in 2004. “When I got the job at St Pancras I was only 17 and not long over from a small hill farm in Donegal. Everything was so alien to me and I felt lost,” he begins explaining in his soft Irish brogue. “I decided the best way to get support was to join the union. I met some good people in it who showed me the ropes and I never looked back.” By 1966 he was a shop steward, helping to negotiate better conditions for fellow workers. “In those days you had goods trains running through the night and working on the railways could be very arduous. You often had to start your shift in the early hours and there was nothing like unsocial hours allowances. Until the 1970s certain grades of workers did not even receive sick pay. We successfully negotiated for things like this as well as a railway pension scheme. At the end of the day you had to fight for better conditions – they weren’t going to be offered to you on a plate.” When it came to helping out individual staff, one case in particular brings out his easy smile. It concerned fellow St Pancras train guard Jerry Williams, who was elected the first black mayor of Camden in 1988. “Not long after his election, he was disciplined for having too much time off. I represented Jerry at the hearing and took great pleasure in pointing out that as he was now Mayor Williams he was entitled to this. They were extremely embarrassed and threw the case out.” When Tony joined St Pancras, like many Irish migrants he lived in Camden Town, then Archway before eventually moving to Borehamwood, conveniently just a few stops up the line from St Pancras. He takes me on a tour around the station that was practically a second home to him, showing me what was once there and what still is and revelling in the memories of the fellowship that develops when people spend a lot of time JOURNEY OF A RAILWAYMAN Angela Cobbinah meets Tony Donaghey, the Irish country lad who made St Pancras his first and last stop when he landed a job as on the railways