Train drivers plan rolling one-day strikes across rail companies next month

TRAIN drivers are to stage a series of one-day strikes and a nine-day ban on overtime next month in their long-running dispute over pay.

The Aslef union said the new walkouts will “ratchet up the pressure” on train companies and the Government to give train drivers their first pay rise in more than four years.

Union members will walk out at EMR and LNER on December 2; at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern Thameslink, and WMT on December 3; at C2C and Greater Anglia on December 5; at Southeastern, Southern/gatwick Express, the SWR main line and depot, and on the Island Line on December 6; at Crosscountry and GWR on December 7; and at Northern and TPT on December 8.

All Aslef members will refuse to work any overtime from Friday December 1 to Saturday December 9.

Aslef said it has previously called all its members out on strike on the same day but, by spreading the action, the ramifications for the rail industry will be “greater”.

“We are determined to win this dispute and get a significant pay rise for train drivers, who have not had an increase since 2019, while the cost of living, in that time, has soared,” Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said.

Aslef said it has successfully struck pay deals with 14 companies in the last 12 months, including freight firms, open-access operators, Eurostar, and passenger companies in Scotland and Wales where transport issues are devolved.

“We have been unable to do a deal with the 16 train operating companies (TOCS) in England controlled by the Government.”

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said: “This wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership will sadly disrupt customers and businesses ahead of the vital festive period, while further damaging the railway at a time when it is still getting an extra is £175 million a month in taxpayer cash.

“The fair and affordable offer made by industry, which would take average driver base salaries for a four-day week from £60,000 to nearly £65,000, remains on the table.”