January 17, 2023 12.30 pm This story is over 24 months old

Train drivers to go on strike as union criticise “cartel” rail bosses

A pay offer was made, but it has been rejected

By Local Democracy Reporter

The trade union representing train drivers has rejected another pay offer and will call strike action for the start of February – likely leaving Lincolnshire in public transport disarray once more.

Aslef announced the strikes for Wednesday, February 1 and Friday, February 3 after rejecting a pay offer from the Rail Delivery Group, which is claimed to include a backdated pay increase of 4% for 2022 and a further 4% for 2023.

There was reportedly also a commitment to no compulsory redundancies over the next year within the offer, but Aslef has said the proposal “could not ever be acceptable”.

According to the RDG, the average salary of a train driver, the workers represented by Aslef, is £60,000, up from £44,985 ten years ago.

Aslef claims that it took rail bosses over six months to make this pay offer, resulting in multiple rounds of strike action over recent times.

It will be the first train strikes of 2023, and it coincides with a walkout from 100,000 civil servants on February 1, after the Public and Commercial Services Union announced its members voted in favour of industrial action earlier this month.

Striking on the railways will affect 15 train operating companies, including LNER, East Midlands Railway and Northern Trains, leaving Lincolnshire’s rail network in jeopardy once more.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, has called the Rail Delivery Group “the cartel put in place on behalf of a government which has been shown to be interfering with talks”, and said the only way to end this dispute is with serious discussion.

Whelan said: “The proposal is not and could not ever be acceptable but we are willing to engage in further discussions within the process that we previously agreed.

“It’s now clear to our members, and to the public, that this was never about reform or modernisation but an attempt to get hundreds of millions of pounds of productivity for a 20% pay cut while taking away any hope of the union having any say in the future.

“Irreparable harm has been done to the integrity of the negotiating process and the future ability to negotiate an appropriate way forward, but we make ourselves available anyway.

“Our members at these companies have not had an increase since 2019, despite soaring inflation, and it is time the companies – encouraged, perhaps, by the government – sat down with us and got serious.

“That is the way – and the only way – to end this dispute.”


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