In a protracted dispute over wages, train drivers at 12 railway operating firms, including LNER, will go on strike twice next month.
The ASLEF union has declared that thousands of its members will strike on Saturday, October 1 and Wednesday, October 5.
The union’s scheduled strike on September 15 was cancelled when the Queen’s death was revealed, with the RMT also cancelling two strikes for more than 30,000 of its members this month.
The ASLEF union will strike in October, disrupting Southeastern trains.
However, with the national period of mourning now over and no sign of a deal with rail bosses in the works, it is expected that thousands of railway workers and train staff will resume their separate campaigns of industrial action in an attempt to secure better pay for workers, who they claim are being hit hard by the rising cost of living.
ASLEF, the train drivers union, will strike at 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.
With the union representing 96% of train drivers, prior strikes by the organisation have forced train services to grind to a halt with so few drivers available to keep the network functioning.
Mick Whelan, ASLEF general secretary, said: ‘We would much rather not be in this position. We don’t want to go on strike – although a fundamental human right, withdrawing your labour is always a last resort for this trade union – 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% – 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 considerably less.
“The companies we are in dispute with have not offered us a penny. It is outrageous that they expect us to put up with a real terms pay cut for the third year. And that’s why we are going on strike.”
The RMT, the transport union, has yet to say whether it wants to reinstate strikes in October to replace those it also abandoned this month as a measure of respect.
Eleven trade unions are also requesting a court review of the government’s plans to enable corporations to recruit agency workers to replace strikers.
