John Michael Whelan (born 1960) is the 18th General Secretary of the British trade union ASLEF, a position he has held since 2011.

Early life

Whelan was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

to Irish parents and grew up in North West London. His mother worked in a sweet shop at Euston station and his father was a bricklayer. Whelan credited his father with politicising him, although both his parents had left-wing views: his father was a member of the Socialist Workers Party whilst he described his mother's beliefs as " hard Labour". He passed his

eleven-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardised examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academi ...

and attended

London Oratory School The London Oratory School, also known as "The Oratory" or "The London Oratory" to distinguish it from other schools, is a Selective Catholic Voluntary Aided secondary school for boys aged 7–18 and girls aged 16–18 in West Brompton. Foun ...

: he planned to attend university after leaving school, however he entered employment instead after his father suffered injuries from a fall from some scaffolding and was unable to continue working.

Career

He began working in the rail industry in 1984, becoming a train driver. Previously he had been a bank clerk.

ASLEF

Whelan was elected General Secretary of ASLEF on 11 October 2011, when he received 3683 votes compared to 3458 for Simon Weller. Previously he had been Midlands District Organiser (ASLEF District 6) for the union. In the first ballot on 19 September 2011 he received 3,284 votes, against 3,115 for Simon Weller. He became General Secretary on 5 December 2011. He is also Editor of ''Aslef Journal'' (a nominal position for the General Secretary), published by TU ink. Whelan supports

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

as he believes that "the EU has become a rich man’s club which offers plenty for the boss class – but very little for the ordinary hard-working men and women trying to earn a living". Whelan is a prominent supporter of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign and highlighted this when rejecting claims by a UK government minister that ASLEF was failing to show solidarity with Ukrainians by striking during

Eurovision 2023 The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 was the 67th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom, as , the winner of the with the song "Stefania (song), Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, was unable to host the eve ...

, which was hosted by the UK on behalf of Ukraine.

Personal life

Whelan is a supporter of

Chelsea football club Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club was founded in 1905 and named after neighbouring area Chelsea. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football, pl ...

. He is married to Lorraine Phelan MBE, the Chief Biomedical Scientist for special haematology at

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is a teaching hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ...

. They live at a house in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

and have two boys including a son born in 1995.

References

External links

Mick's Column at ASLEF

Twitter

News items

London Midland in March 2011

Video clips

Justice for Colombia in September 2012
(introduced by Billy Hayes) {{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Mick 1960 births General secretaries of ASLEF People from Wembley British train drivers Living people People educated at London Oratory School People from Paddington English people of Irish descent