Train strikes start this week: Here’s everything you need to know
Today is the 29th of January, 2024 and the current time is 2:41 PM.
This week, British citizens are going through another round of inconvenience as train operators who belong to the Aslef union protest against their employers due to disagreements on salary and work circumstances.
Between Monday 29th January and Tuesday 6th February, a total of 17 train companies will be affected by a series of strikes and a ban on overtime work.
On certain days, there won't be any services available. On other days, the services may start later and end earlier than usual. The usual timeframe for services is between 7:30 in the morning and 6:30 in the evening.
This is happening even though a deal was struck between the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the government towards the end of last year. This agreement ensured that there were no disruptions during the Christmas period and in the lead up to Spring. The RMT is responsible for representing signalling staff.
The proposed strikes at LNER that were supposed to occur within the next week have been cancelled as the company has made a commitment to not implement minimum service requirements during the initial strikes.
On Monday, January 29th, there will be a restriction on working beyond regular hours.
On Tuesday, January 30th, there will be a complete work stoppage on Southeastern, Southern, Gatwick Express, South Western Railway, Great Northern, and Thameslink.
On the 31st of January, TransPennine Express and Northern are organizing a complete strike.
On Thursday, February 1st, there will be a restriction on working extra hours.
On Friday, February 2nd, there will be complete strikes on C2C, Greater Anglia, and LNER.
On the 3rd of February, there will be a complete cessation of work on three train services: Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and East Midlands Railway.
On the 4th of February, there was a restriction on overtime work.
On the 5th of February, there were industrial actions taking place at Great Western, CrossCountry, and Chiltern.
On Tuesday February 6th, there was an overtime ban.
Since May 2022, the industrial action of both Aslef and the RMT union has caused disturbances due to soaring inflation problems with employee salaries. Along with this, Britain’s railways are facing a turbulent post-Covid restoration.
Aslef, an organization that speaks for train drivers, refused an offer in April 2023. The offer suggested an increment of four percent in salary for the next two years, provided that train drivers agreed to accept modifications in driver training practices and discussed changes in working timings with particular operators.
In 2022, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the average income for railway employees was £45,919. Meanwhile, the median salary for train and tram operators is slightly less than £59,000.
Discussions came to a halt during 2022 because both the government and Aslef were consistently blaming each other for not attending the negotiation meetings.
Rail worker unions are extremely angry about a recent government law that mandates a minimum level of service from trade union employees in crucial industries in the event of a strike.
The leader of ASLEF, Mick Whelan, stated that the government has had many chances to negotiate but it has been a year since they last got in touch with the Department for Transport. It is obvious that they have no interest in settling this argument.
Numerous individuals have not received any pay raise for five years, despite the fact that the cost of living has risen due to inflation. Although we did not demand a pay hike during the pandemic, we continued to work as key workers during the lockdown, putting our lives in danger to transport goods across the country and assisting NHS and other personnel in getting to work.
Someone who speaks for the Rail Delivery Group stated: "These strikes will have negative effects on our customers and nobody will benefit. Although we see a positive future for the railway, the government is currently providing an additional £54m each week to maintain services after COVID-19."
The head honchos at ASLEF must acknowledge the economic hurdles that the railway industry is facing. The drivers have been given an offer which would raise their base pay to almost £65,000 for a work week of four days, before overtime pay. This offer exceeds the standard wage in the country by a significant margin and is much more than what numerous customers, who cannot work from home, are paid. Instead of resorting to more strikes that would harm both parties, we urge the ASLEF leaders to collaborate with us to come up with a resolution to this dispute and give a fair agreement that compensates our workers and helps implement the necessary changes to improve the reliability of services.
Even though we are making every effort to maintain the train operations, it's regretful to inform you that the services will be limited from the 29th of January until the 6th of February. We suggest you check the latest travel updates before you embark on your journey.
