There will be more strikes on the railways later this month after the train drivers union, ASLEF instructed members to walk out.
Unless called off, there will be a series of strikes between Tuesday 30th January and Monday 5th February 2024, and the walkouts will take place on the following dates:
Tuesday 30th January
- Gatwick Express
- Great Northern
- Southeastern
- Southern
- SWR Island Line
- South Western Railway
- Thameslink
Wednesday 31st January
- Northern Trains
- Transpennine Trains
Friday 2nd February
- C2C
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
Saturday 3rd February
- Avanti West Coast
- East Midlands Railway
- West Midlands Trains
Monday 5th February
- Chiltern
- CrossCountry
- Great Western Railway (GWR)
There is also likely to be disruption at each train company in the evening before the strike and the morning afterwards, and train drivers will also refuse to work overtime at all the affected companies from Monday 29th January until Tuesday 6th February.
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 keyworkers, 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.”
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.”
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