Train drivers will go on strike for two days next month as part of an ongoing dispute over pay, a union has confirmed. The latest industrial action on the railways is set to hit Northern, Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express services across Greater Manchester.
It will also affect travel for delegates and visitors to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham.
The union Aslef announced today - Tuesday - that drivers will walk out on Saturday, October 1 and Wednesday, October 5. Aslef said drivers previously took strike action on July 30 and August 13, but said their 'employers are still failing to come to the table with any improved offer'.
Drivers from 12 train operators in total are set to be involved - Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; CrossCountry; Greater Anglia; Great Western Railway; Hull Trains; LNER; London Overground; Northern Trains; Southeastern; TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.
READ MORE: Huge police scene after gunman opens fire in street
The train drivers' trade union represents 96 per cent of the train drivers in England, Scotland, and Wales. A strike had been called for September 15, but that was called off by the union after the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Aslef said today it has 'successfully negotiated' pay deals with nine train companies this year and was 'only in dispute with those companies which have failed to offer their drivers - our members - anything'. "And these are drivers who have not have an increase since 2019," read a statement.
Mick Whelan, Aslef's general secretary, said: "We would much rather not be in this position. We don't want to go on strike - withdrawing your labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for this trade union - but the train companies have been determined to force our hand.
"They are telling train drivers to take a real terms pay cut. With inflation now running at 12.3 per cent and set, it is said, to go higher, these companies are saying that drivers should be prepared to work just as hard, for just as long, but for considerably less.
"The companies with whom we are in dispute have not offered us a penny. It is outrageous that they expect us to put up with a real terms pay cut for a third year in a row. And that's why we are going on strike.
What do you think? Have your say in our comments.
"To persuade the companies to be sensible, to do the right thing, and come and negotiate properly with us. Not to run up and say, 'our hands are tied and the government will not allow us to offer you an increase'.
"Train drivers kept Britain moving - key workers and goods around the country - throughout the pandemic and we deserve to be treated better than this. That's why we are calling on the companies - which are making big profits, and paying their chief executives enormous salaries and bonuses - to make a pay offer to our members to keep up with the rise in the cost of living."
Industrial disputes in the rail industry and other sectors, including post and telecoms, have led to a summer of strikes, which are set to resume in the coming weeks.
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- Manchester's first city centre park in a century to open this week
- Salford dad flew to Australia and took his own life after both parents died just weeks apart
- 'It's terrible... just leave it alone': Residents hit out after popular Manchester green is dug up
- The 'pride' of men who built the Queen's hearse in Wigan factory
- Parents of baby who died after hospital failures issue warning to other parents - as they ensure his memory lives on forever
