Train drivers who are members of the Aslef trade union are to walk out in another series of one-day strikes, together with a six-day overtime ban at 16 train operating companies.
Members will walk out mid-week between Tuesday 7 May and Thursday 9 May in an ongoing dispute over pay. The train drivers have not had an increase in salary for five years, since their last pay deal expired in 2019.
The employers – and the government – think we are going to give up and run away. They’re wrong. In the words of Tom Petty, we won’t back down” – Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan
Members will also refuse to work non-contractual overtime – “rest-day working” – from 6 to 11 May.
Aslef said that after its members voted again in February to take industrial action, it asked the train operating companies (TOCs) to come to the table and talk but they refused.
Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said: “It is now a year since we sat in a room with the train companies – and a year since we rejected the risible offer they made and which they admitted, privately, was designed to be rejected.”
Aslef first balloted its members for industrial action in June 2022, after three years without a pay rise. After eight one-day strikes to persuade the TOCs to come to the table and talk its negotiating team met the Rail Delivery Group, which acts for some of the employers, on eight occasions – the last being in April 2023.
Aslef strikes May 2024
That was followed by the TOCs’ attempt to change drivers’ terms and conditions, which was immediately rejected by the union.
“Since then train drivers have voted, again and again, to take action to get a pay rise,” added Whelan. “That’s why Mark Harper, the transport secretary, is being disingenuous when he says that offer should have been put to members. Drivers would not vote to strike if they thought an offer was acceptable. They don’t. And that offer – now a year old – is dead in the water.”
“Our pay deals at these companies ran out in 2019. Train drivers at these TOCs have not had an increase in salary for five years. That is completely wrong. The employers – and the government – think we are going to give up and run away. They’re wrong. In the words of Tom Petty, we won’t back down.”
Members will walk out on 7 May at c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern, Gatwick Express, South Western Railway and SWR Island Line.
Then on 8 May drivers will strike at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway and West Midlands Trains. Finally on 9 May, LNER, Northern Trains, and TransPennine drivers will walk out.
A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group said: “This wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership will sadly disrupt customers and businesses once again, while further damaging the railway at a time when taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54 million a week just to keep services running.
“We continue to seek a fair agreement with the Aslef leadership which both rewards our people, gives our customers more reliable services and makes sure the railway isn’t taking more than its fair share from taxpayers.”
Last week, the RMT union rejected a 3.5% pay offer from Network Rail, which runs the railways infrastructure, describing it as unacceptable and an insult to hardworking staff.
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