The train drivers' union has confirmed that workers at 12 companies will stage fresh strikes next month, continuing the industrial unrest that has hit several sectors this summer. Members of Aslef will walk out on October 1 and 5, which will impact the travel plans for delegates and visitors to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham.
A strike planned for last week was called off as a mark of respect following the Queen’s death, but the union warned it is in for the “long haul” as the rail disputes remain deadlocked. General secretary Mick Whelan said: “We would much rather not be in this position. We don’t want to go on strike – withdrawing your labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for this trade union – but the train companies have been determined to force our hand.
“They are telling train drivers to take a real-terms pay cut. With inflation now running at 12.3 per cent – and set, it is said, to go higher – these companies are saying that drivers should be prepared to work just as hard, for just as long, but for considerably less.
“The companies with whom we are in dispute have not offered us a penny. It is outrageous that they expect us to put up with a real-terms pay cut for a third year in a row. That’s why we are going on strike – to persuade the companies to be sensible, to do the right thing, and come and negotiate properly with us, not to run up and say, ‘Our hands are tied and the Government will not allow us to offer you an increase’.
“Train drivers kept Britain moving – key workers and goods around the country – throughout the pandemic and we deserve to be treated better than this. That’s why we are calling on the companies – which are making big profits and paying their chief executives enormous salaries and bonuses – to make a pay offer to our members to keep up with the rise in the cost of living.”
Aslef members at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Northern Trains, Southeastern, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains will be involved in the new strikes.
