The North of England's biggest train operator has angered unions by handing its managers £1,800 bonuses while refusing to give drivers a pay rise.
Publicly-owned Northern Trains says it has made the extra payment "in recognition of the significant contributions made in managing contingency planning and delivery of our business plan".
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But the move - which comes amid an ongoing industrial dispute which has seen local services decimated on strike days - has sparked anger among workers who say they have not had their pay increased since 2019.
An internal message by a senior manager - and seen by The Northern Agenda politics newsletter - says the payment recognises the "superb efforts" of frontline managers who have been "relentless, constantly scrutinised, working with ambiguity and keeping us safe and compliant".
Staff are also angry after learning that managers at Northern have been paid £250 a day extra to help keep trains running on strike days.
An Aslef spokesman said: "It is deeply disappointing, although not surprising, that Northern is rewarding managers who worked from home, by Zoom, throughout the pandemic, while refusing to give a pay rise to drivers and other frontline rail staff who put their lives at risk during the pandemic to keep other key workers, and goods and medicines, moving around the country, and who have not, now, had an increase in pay, despite the soaring cost of living, since 2019."
Across the North of England passengers have had to endure "unacceptable" train services in recent months due to the impact of sickness, training, industrial action and drivers refusing to work on their rest days as they previously did.
On a number of days in recent months local services have been decimated by strike action. Earlier this year the TSSA rail union voted to end its industrial action after accepting an offer on pay, job security and conditions from the train companies. But other unions like Aslef and RMT remain in dispute.
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A recent report by Transport for the North said: "Northern continues to face challenges due to other operators not running services.
"While the operator is working to manage the impacts of other operators’ delays/cancellations, these are causing impacts on performance for which Northern is not to blame."
In a post on Northern's internal intranet system seen by The Northern Agenda Chris Jackson, the firm's Regional Director responsible for drivers, conductors, stations said the 'additional payment' had not been given to the highest level executive managers or directors.
He said: "This will be paid to front line managers like Duty Station Managers, Driver Team Managers, Conductor Team Managers who are represented by TSSA [under collective bargaining] who have settled the pay dispute. It is in relation to the work done for contingency planning and businesses plan delivery in the main.
"I feel as though some are trying to make this a divisive issue - and I am not deaf to to that - but it is important to recognise the superb efforts of the front line managers over the last few years - relentless, constantly scrutinised, working with ambiguity and keeping us safe and compliant.
"The fact that TSSA have settled naturally puts this in a very different position to the unions already in dispute.
"Everyone in the business should be proud of what they have done to support the economy and through the pandemic. That includes all front line grades. However, I hope people understand that whilst certain trade unions remain in dispute, it limits these sorts of discussions."
It is understood the payment has been awarded to all appropriate manager grades at Northern regardless of whether they are members of TSSA, another union or no union at all
Another email by Danny Singh, senior employee relations manager (operations) at Northern confirms "there has been an additional remuneration made to some management grades".
It says: "This is in recognition of the significant contributions made in managing contingency planning and delivery of our business plan.
"It is factually incorrect that this payment has any connection to the Covid 19 pandemic. Also to confirm that we will not be making any monetary rewards to any Northern employee that worked through the pandemic."
In February, as the majority of Britain’s train services were cancelled due to industrial action Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan warned strikes by train drivers could continue for three more years.
Both Aslef and the Rail Delivery Group – representing train operators - said talks in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions had "gone backwards".
Approached for further comment, Chris Jackson said: “We feel it was important to recognise the contribution that staff have made to help Northern navigate the business challenges we have faced over the past few years – particularly their commitment and dedication to delivering for our customers.”
