Train drivers' trade union ASLEF has today announced that its members across the UK rail network will strike on Friday 1 September and refuse to work overtime on Saturday 2 September.
The industrial action is the latest move by ASLEF in its campaign for a pay rise for train drivers that will keep pace with price inflation.
The union expects the strike to compel the sixteen train operating companies involved to cancel all services on the Friday, and that the overtime ban – which coincides with strike action by other grades of railworkers, called by RMT – to seriously disrupt the network. ASLEF points out that none of the private train operating companies employs enough drivers to deliver a proper service without drivers working on their days off.
The sixteen companies where the action will take place are: Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; c2c; CrossCountry; East Midlands Railway; Greater Anglia; GTR Great Northern Thameslink; Great Western Railway; Island Line; LNER; Northern Trains; Southeastern; Southern/Gatwick Express; South Western Railway; TransPennine Express; and West Midlands Trains.
Mick Whelan, ASLEF's general secretary, said: “We don't want to take this action but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12%.
“The government appears happy to let passengers – and businesses – suffer in the mistaken belief that they can bully us into submission. They don't care about passengers – or Britain's railway – but they will not break us.
“Train drivers at these companies have not had a pay rise for four years – since 2019 – while inflation has rocketed. We haven't heard a word from the employers – we haven't had a meeting, a phone call, a text message, or an email – since Wednesday 26 April, and we haven't had any contact with the government since Friday 6 January. This shows the contempt in which the companies, and the government, hold passengers and staff and public transport in Britain.
“They are happy to let this drift on and on. But we are determined to get a fair pay rise for men and women who haven't had one for four years while inflation has reached double figures. Our members, perfectly reasonably, want to be able to buy now what they could buy back in 2019.”
When exactly are you intending to stop going on strike and how much do you want?
I am getting very annoyed as I have a strong suspicion the salaries of Mick Whelan and the RMT Leader is on a 5 figure wage per year.