ASLEF train drivers’ trade union members have voted overwhelmingly for more strike action, having not had a pay rise for five years.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, said yesterday: ‘These results show – yet again – a clear rejection by train drivers of the ridiculous offer put to us in April last year by the Rail Delivery Group on behalf of the train operating companies with whom we are in dispute.
‘The RDG knew the offer would be rejected because we had told them that a land grab for all the terms & conditions we have negotiated over the years would be unacceptable.
‘Since then our members have voted, time and again, for strikes. That’s why Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, is being disingenuous when he says that offer should have been put to members.
‘Drivers obviously wouldn’t vote for industrial action, again and again and again, if they thought that was a good offer.
‘They don’t. That offer was dead in the water in April last year – and I think Mr Harper knows that.
‘But we remain open and willing, as ever, to talk about a revised offer. That’s why we are asking the Secretary of State for Transport, or the Rail Minister Huw Merriman, to come and meet us.
‘Mr Harper hasn’t seen fit to talk to us since December 2022; Mr Merriman has not been in the room with us since January 2023; and the RDG has not talked to us since April last year.
‘Today we are saying, clearly, to Mr Harper, Mr Merriman, the RDG and the TOCs, come and talk to us.
‘Let’s sit around the table and negotiate. You don’t want any more strikes, and we do not want to be forced to take any more industrial action, although we have the renewed mandates to do just that.
‘We want to find a resolution to this dispute, for members who have not had a pay rise since our last deals ran out in 2019, and the only way to resolve this dispute is for the employers, and the government that stands behind them, to come and talk to us.
‘That’s why I’m saying the ball is in your court. We are ready to talk. Are you?’
ASLEF added: ‘Under the Tories’ anti-union legislation, a mandate for industrial action only lasts six months. That’s why we have had to reballot. Here are the results:
‘Chiltern Railways Yes to strike action 94.5% Turnout 73.9%; c2c Yes to strike action 89.4% Turnout 70%; East Midlands Railway Yes to strike action 90.4% Turnout 71.9%; Northern Trains Yes to strike action 93.9% Turnout 76.7%; Pennine Trains Yes to strike action 95.5% Turnout: 76.6%.’
- RMT announced yesterday that union members on the London Overground will strike on Monday 19 & Tuesday 20 February and Monday 4 & Tuesday 5 March.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘London Overground workers do an important job delivering services for TfL and supporting passengers on journeys throughout London.
‘Our members are furious that they have been given a below-inflation pay offer and want to see an improvement that represents the value they bring to the company.
‘If this dispute cannot be resolved then RMT is more than prepared for a sustained period of industrial action to get London Overground workers the pay rise they deserve.’
