What You Need to Know About the Aslef Train Drivers' Strike
Key Highlights :
Train drivers in the UK are set to stage three days of walkouts over a pay dispute, potentially causing chaos for thousands of passengers travelling to the Eurovision final and FA Cup final. Here’s what you need to know about the strike.
The train drivers’ union, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef), is staging the strike in protest at the Rail Delivery Group’s (RDG) pay offer of 4pc in 2022 and 4pc in 2023. Aslef has already staged eight days of strikes since last summer, and the three days of walkouts will affect 16 train operating companies.
The strike is scheduled to take place on 13 May, the day of the Eurovision final in Liverpool, on 3 June, the day of the FA Cup final in London, and on the same day as Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” world tour concert at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said the RDG’s pay offer “was clearly not designed to be accepted” as inflation is still above 10pc, meaning the offer represents a pay cut in real terms. The train drivers had not had a pay rise since 2019.
To qualify for the first 4pc boost, the companies would need to commit to drivers adopting new routes faster to help plug gaps in the service and using technology to train new staff more quickly. The second year of pay rises would hinge on “the successful conclusion” of talks on reforms which would make drivers scheduled to work on Sundays contractually committed to do so if there was no alternative cover.
The RDG said this change was vital as leisure travel had rebounded much more strongly than commuter and business journeys and now stands at 116pc of pre-Covid levels. The group also required that the control of staff work and training schedules was put “back in the hands of the employers”.
Yet the train drivers’ union said the 8pc offer over two years that would lift the average driver’s salary from around £60,000 to just below £65,000 was insufficient. Inflation has largely been in double digits since July last year and remained at 10.4pc in March, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows. It means the pay offer would still be a considerable pay cut in real terms.
An RDG spokesperson said: “More strike action is totally unnecessary and will only heap more pressure on an industry already facing an acute financial crisis.”
With no resolution in sight, rail passengers face fresh chaos as the train drivers’ union Aslef has announced more strikes over pay disputes. It remains to be seen how the dispute will be resolved and whether the strikes will go ahead as planned.
Title:
Train Drivers' Strike Looms: What You Need to Know About the Aslef Dispute
