Train drivers strike for third time in four days
Sky News
Sun, 7 April 2024
Passengers on some of the UK's busiest rail routes will face travel chaos on Monday as train drivers are set to strike for the third time in four days.
Members of Aslef will walk out resulting in significant reductions in services, especially in East Anglia and the South East.
Aslef is embroiled in a near two-year long dispute over pay, with no sign of a breakthrough and no talks planned.
The strike will hit c2c, Gatwick Express, Greater Anglia, Southeastern, Southern, South Western Railway, Great Northern and Thameslink.
The union says the dispute has cost the industry over £2bn, far more than it would have cost to resolve the conflict.
Aslef members at 16 train companies are also banning overtime on Monday and Tuesday which will further disrupt services.
Picket lines will be mounted outside the railway stations of operators affected by the strike.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said his members remained solidly behind the industrial action and criticised the government and rail companies for the lack of contact over the past year.
The government introduced a new law last year aimed at ensuring minimum levels of service during strikes, but none of the train companies have opted to use it.
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: "Train companies are working through plans to manage the unnecessary disruption to our passengers caused by this damaging industrial action.
"Minimum service levels are one potential tool for that but they are not a silver bullet.
"In the meantime, we remain committed to resolving this dispute and our offer, which would take average driver salaries to £65,000 for a four-day week without overtime, remains on the table."
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "Aslef is the only rail union continuing to strike, targeting passengers and preventing their own members from voting on the pay offer that remains on the table.
"Having resolved disputes with all other rail unions, the transport secretary and rail minister have ensured that a pay offer is on the table - taking train drivers' average salaries from £60,000 up to £65,000."
Sky News
Sun, 7 April 2024
Passengers on some of the UK's busiest rail routes will face travel chaos on Monday as train drivers are set to strike for the third time in four days.
Members of Aslef will walk out resulting in significant reductions in services, especially in East Anglia and the South East.
Aslef is embroiled in a near two-year long dispute over pay, with no sign of a breakthrough and no talks planned.
The strike will hit c2c, Gatwick Express, Greater Anglia, Southeastern, Southern, South Western Railway, Great Northern and Thameslink.
The union says the dispute has cost the industry over £2bn, far more than it would have cost to resolve the conflict.
Aslef members at 16 train companies are also banning overtime on Monday and Tuesday which will further disrupt services.
Picket lines will be mounted outside the railway stations of operators affected by the strike.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said his members remained solidly behind the industrial action and criticised the government and rail companies for the lack of contact over the past year.
The government introduced a new law last year aimed at ensuring minimum levels of service during strikes, but none of the train companies have opted to use it.
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: "Train companies are working through plans to manage the unnecessary disruption to our passengers caused by this damaging industrial action.
"Minimum service levels are one potential tool for that but they are not a silver bullet.
"In the meantime, we remain committed to resolving this dispute and our offer, which would take average driver salaries to £65,000 for a four-day week without overtime, remains on the table."
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "Aslef is the only rail union continuing to strike, targeting passengers and preventing their own members from voting on the pay offer that remains on the table.
"Having resolved disputes with all other rail unions, the transport secretary and rail minister have ensured that a pay offer is on the table - taking train drivers' average salaries from £60,000 up to £65,000."
Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent
Sat, 6 April 2024
Train drivers mounted picket lines outside railway stations on Saturday as strikes continued in a long-running pay dispute.
Aslef said the 22-month-long row had cost the industry £2 billion, much more than it would have cost to resolve the conflict.
Rail passengers suffered more travel disruption when six operators were hit by strikes.
Some areas of the country will have no services all day on Saturday.
Chiltern, TransPennine Express and Northern will not run any trains, while there will be reduced services on Great Western Railway, LNER and Heathrow Express.
LNER said it plans to run 35 services between London, Edinburgh and West Yorkshire, while no Heathrow Express trains will run before 7.25am or after 7pm.
GWR said services will be reduced, with many parts of its network having no trains all day.
Engineering work means there will be no trains between London Paddington and Reading.
The strikes follow walkouts at Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Railway, CrossCountry and London NorthWestern on Friday, which crippled services.
Several train operators, including those serving busy commuter routes in the South East, will be hit by a strike on Monday.
A ban on overtime on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday at 16 train companies is also leading to cancellations and disruption.
Aslef says it wants to meet with train companies and ministers to try to break the deadlock, claiming that the Government does not want to resolve the row.
No meetings have been held between the union and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) for a year, or with Transport Secretary Mark Harper since December 2022.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We’ve done 17 pay deals in the last 12 months across all sectors, nations and regions – freight, open-access, Elizabeth line, and Tube.
“And yet we only have a problem with one place and the place we have a problem with is the Westminster Government, who are interfering with our pay deals with the private companies we work for.”
A new law was introduced last year aimed at ensuring minimum levels of service during strikes, but none of the train operators have applied to use it.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Aslef is the only rail union continuing to strike, targeting passengers and preventing their own members from voting on the pay offer that remains on the table.”
A spokesperson for the RDG said: “Minimum service level legislation is one of many useful tools for managing strike disruption, but it is not a silver bullet.”
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