Rail strikes: Fresh action to cause misery for millions into February
Train drivers have announced a series of fresh strikes and an overtime ban at the end of the month, in a blow to recent progress in resolving the national dispute.
Members of the ASLEF Union will walk out in late January and early February as part of a programme of “rolling action.”
A combination of strikes and a ban on overtime working will run on seperate days, beginning on Monday 29 January and running through to Tuesday 6 February.
Commuters can expect the most disruption on Monday 29 January, while Friday 2 and Saturday 3 February will have two major train operators on the East Coast and West Coast mainlines hit.
The dates:
Monday 29 January: overtime ban.
Tuesday 30 January: full strike action on Southeastern, Southern, Gatwick Express, South Western Railway, Great Northern and Thameslink.
Wednesday 31 January: full strike action on TransPennine Express and Northern.
Thursday 1 February: overtime ban.
Friday 2 February: full strike action on C2C, Greater Anglia and LNER.
Saturday 3 February: full strike action on Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and East Midlands Railway.
Sunday 4 February: overtime ban
Monday 5 February: Strikes at Great Western, CrossCountry and Chiltern.
Tuesday 6 February: overtime ban.
Aslef’s general secretary, Mick Whelan, said: “We have given the government every opportunity to come to the table but it has now been a year since we had any contact from the Department for Transport. It’s clear they do not want to resolve this dispute.”
“Many of our members have now not had a single penny increase to their pay in half a decade, during which inflation soared and with it the cost of living. Train drivers didn’t even ask for an increase during the Covid-19 pandemic when they worked throughout as key workers, risking their lives to allow NHS and other workers to travel.”
“The government has now tried their old trick of changing the rules when they can’t win and brought in minimum service levels legislation. But this new law, as we told officials during the consultation period, won’t ease industrial strife. It will likely just make it worse.
“There’s no excuse. The government and train operating companies must come to the table with a realistic offer so we can end this dispute and work together to ensure the future of our railways.”
A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group said: “Nobody wins when strikes impact lives and livelihoods, and they’re particularly difficult to justify at a time when taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54m a week to keep services running post covid.
“Despite the railway’s huge financial challenge, drivers have been made an offer which would take base salaries to nearly £65,000 for a four day week without overtime – that is well above the national average and significantly more than many of our passengers that have no option to work from home are paid. Instead of staging more damaging industrial action, we call on the ASLEF leadership to work with us to resolve this dispute and deliver a fair deal which both rewards our people, and makes the changes needed to make services more reliable.”