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UK TRAIN DRIVERS STRIKE FOR FAIR PAY British train drivers are continuing their fight for better pay after they took a series of strike actions across December. The UK train driver’s union, ASLEF, carried out a rolling program of oneday strikes and a nine-day overtime ban across the country’s 16 Train Operating Companies (TOCs). ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan (who was a guest speaker at the RTBU National Council in November), said the industrial action was designed to ratchet up the pressure on the 16 TOCs and the UK Government. “We are going on strike again not to inconvenience passengers, but to express our disgust at the intransigence of this government, and the bad faith shown by the private companies which employ us,” Mick said. “It is clear that the Tory Government does not want to resolve this dispute. “We haven’t had a meeting with Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, since December 2022. We haven’t had a meeting with Huw Merriman, the Rail Minister, since January this year.
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“And we haven’t heard from the employers, the private sector train operating companies for whom we work, since April. “We are prepared to come to the table and negotiate but the TOCs … simply can’t be bothered. They are happy to see this dispute rumble on, for passengers and businesses to suffer, and to drive Britain’s railways – once the envy of the world – into a managed decline.” The strikes caused significant disruptions to services across Great Britain and came after train drivers voted to strongly endorse ASLEF’s mandate to take industrial action. “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,” Mick said. ! Mick Whelan at the National
Council meeting.
