Rail passengers in Manchester and the North have been given a boost following a major announcement by the train drivers' union. Aslef has today (June 15) ended its ban on overtime working for members employed by TransPennine Express (TPE).
The union says it implemented the ban in response to proposed changes to drivers' terms and conditions, which it described as a 'land grab'. It also claimed TPE was previously attempting to blame workers for 'the company's failure to recruit a sufficient number of drivers'.
Today's announcement comes after the TPE franchise was handed over from FirstGroup to the Government's Operator of Last Resort. With the service now in public control, Aslef says talks have reopened between the new operator and the union, leading to the decision to restore overtime working.
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Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said: "Aslef members have always been prepared to work with the company and agree rest-day working to facilitate the recruitment and training of new drivers. It was regrettable that we had to take the action to ban overtime working, as this kind of action is always a last resort.
"The opportunity to resolve the issue through the Operator of Last Resort has been welcome. We came to the table in good faith and, following productive negotiations this week, we are able to end the overtime ban.
"I hope that we will be able to continue in the spirit of collaboration and maintain positive industrial relations with the operator going forward." The Department for Transport (DfT) decided to act on TPE following months of chaos affecting passengers heading to and from Manchester.
According to the Office of Rail and Road, the company cancelled almost a quarter of its services between January 8 and February this year. FirstGroup says cancellations fell by around 40% from February to May, but the DfT felt improvements had not been sufficient and that 'both the contract and the underlying relationships must be reset'.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper warned that the move to bring TPE into public control was 'not a silver bullet' for passengers, as he pointed the finger at Aslef as 'one of the major factors' behind the chaos hitting passengers. As it said goodbye to the franchise, a FirstGroup statement said service levels 'declined due to circumstances not wholly within the operator’s control, mainly caused by the challenging industrial relations environment'.
It's hoped that today's announcement will lead to improved performance on the network. Lord McLoughlin, chair of Transport for the North, said: “I very much welcome today’s announcement that agreements have been reached to restore rest day working at TPE.
"Efficient and reliable rail services across the North are fundamental to our transport system and this positive development should help in returning these services to the levels passengers in the North rightly expect and deserve. Transport for the North will continue to work closely with the new leadership at TPE to build on this positive step forward.”
A TPE spokesperson said: "We can confirm that TPE has reached agreement with ASLEF to suspend action short of a strike and reinstate the use of rest day working. Our focus since the transfer of TPE to DOHL two weeks ago has been to reset relationships with stakeholders and review operations to improve performance as quickly as possible.
“Whilst this rest day working agreement does not remove all the issues that TPE is facing, it will help us to reduce the significant backlog of driver training which in turn will contribute towards a more stable service for passengers.”
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