Fresh rail strike called for September as second union demands improvement on pay rise offer

31 August 2022, 07:18 | Updated: 31 August 2022, 16:21

Fresh rail strikes have been announced by staff across a further 12 train companies for next month.

Members of ASLEF – the union representing 96 per cent of train drivers in England, Scotland, and Wales – will walk out at 12 train operating companies on September 15 in a dispute over pay.

It comes after the TSSA union called a 24-hour walkout beginning midday on September 26, with nine train operating companies taking part as well as Network Rail.

The union remains in talks with Network Rail about a possible settlement but has urged Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to intervene in a bid to break the deadlock.

It called for the government to allow operating companies to return to the negotiating table with a revised deal after the "insulting" 2 per cent offer which was rejected earlier in the summer.

Action is lined up to go ahead during Labour's party conference in Liverpool.

As a Labour affiliated union, the TSSA said it will be looking for support from delegates and MPs to join them on picket lines.

Read more: Unions threaten to strike for 'as long as it takes' as millions face more travel chaos in London

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ASLEF's general secretary, Mick Whelan, said: "We regret that, once again, passengers are going to be inconvenienced.

"Because we don’t want to go on strike – withdrawing our labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for a trade union – but the train companies have forced our hand.

"They want train drivers to take a real terms pay cut – to work just as hard this year as last, but for 10% less.

"Because inflation is now in double figures and heading higher – much higher, according to some forecasts – and yet the train companies have offered us nothing.

"And this for train drivers who kept Britain moving – key workers and goods around the country – throughout the pandemic and who have not had an increase in salary since 2019.

"We want the companies – which are making big profits, and paying their chief executives enormous salaries and bonuses – to make a proper pay offer to help our members keep up with the increase in the cost of living.

"That’s why we are calling on the companies today to do the right thing – the decent thing – and come back to the negotiating table with an offer our members can accept."

Union leader Manuel Cortes said: "The dead hand of Grant Shapps is sadly stopping DfT [Department for Transport] train operating companies from making a revised, meaningful offer.

"Frankly, he either sits across the negotiating table with our union or gets out of the way to allow railway bosses to freely negotiate with us, as they have done in the past.

"The reason for the current impasse lies squarely at Shapps’ door and passengers are paying a high price for his incompetence and intransigence.

"I welcome the fact that negotiations are ongoing with Network Rail and the gap towards a resolution is narrowing. Time will tell whether a deal can be done to avert our next strike.

"I will be standing on our picket line in Liverpool and will be encouraging fellow delegates and Labour MPs to do likewise, so they can rightly show they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those fighting the Tories’ cost of living crisis."

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The calls come despite Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warning members to distance themselves from rail strikes.

He even went as far as sacking a shadow transport minister for giving interviews from a picket line last month.

Read more: Labour MPs defy Starmer by joining striking rail workers as Corbyn shows up sporting black eye

The UK has seen a summer of crippling industrial action from staff at rail companies in the ongoing dispute over conditions.

Several walkouts were held across rail networks as well as the London Underground and London buses.

TSSA members walked out on August 18 and 20 with hopes of moving negotiations along.

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: "For the eighth time this summer, union leaders are choosing self-defeating strike action over constructive talks, not only disrupting the lives of millions who rely on these services but jeopardising the future of the railways and their own members' livelihoods.

"These reforms deliver the modernisations our rail network urgently needs, are essential to the future of rail, and will happen.

"Strikes will not change this."