Lew Adams

Who is Lew Adams?

Lew Adams is a British former trade unionist.

Adams started his career with British Rail aged 15, working his way up to become a steam locomotive driver.

A local Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen trade union representative, Adams was voted in as General Secretary in 1994. Towards the right of the trade union political spectrum, he vigorously opposed the Conservative governments' privatisation of British Rail via the Railways Act 1993, and was attacked and labelled by the right wing tabloids, most famously as "The Black Prince of Militancy" by the Daily Mail during the 1995 rail strike. However in 2004 Adams declared: “I was vehement that we wanted to stay in the public sector, and of course there were all the usual concerns trade unionists have regarding privatization, safety issues, job losses, protecting the conditions of service, and pensions. But accepting the will of Parliament, it was time to look at the arguments. So we said to management, ‘Well, if that’s what you want, this is what we want.’ Today I cannot argue against the private entrepreneur coming into the rail industry. We are running 1,700 more trains per day since it was privatized.