Train drivers are to walk out on strike again, this time the week of the early May Bank Holiday. At the same time, they will implement an overtime ban, which could lead to short-notice cancellations.
Most train drivers are members of the ASLEF union, and they have been in dispute over pay and conditions. They will carry out a series of one-day strikes over the first week of May after the bank holiday.
The union says that its train driver members haven’t had an increase in salary for five years since their last pay deals expired in 2019. A couple of months ago, union members voted overwhelmingly to continue industrial action which has now been running for nearly two years.
“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,” says Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary.
Strikes will take place on the following dates:
Tuesday 7th May
- c2c
- Gatwick Express
- Greater Anglia
- Great Northern
- Southeastern
- Southern
- South Western Railway main line and depot drivers
- SWR Island Line
- Thameslink
Wednesday 8th May
- Avanti West Coast
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry
- East Midlands Railway
- Great Western Railway (GWR)
- West Midlands Trains
Thursday 9th May
- LNER
- Northern Trains
- TransPennine Trains
It’s also expected that there will be some disruption the evening before the strike and the morning after.
Members will also refuse to work non-contractual overtime from Monday 6th to Saturday 11th May 2024.
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.”
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