Train drivers at nine rail companies to strike in August

Business

Train drivers at nine rail companies will strike on 13 August, the Aslef union has announced.

A separate walkout by drivers at seven rail operators is already planned for this Saturday.

Both strikes will affect Chiltern, LNER, Northern, TransPennine Express, Arriva Rail London, Great Western, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains.

Avanti West Coast and Cross Country will not take part on Saturday but have now decided to take industrial action in August.

Aslef said train companies had failed to make a pay offer that would keep pace with rising living costs.

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The union said workers have not had a pay rise since 2019, which amounts to a real terms cut over the last three years when soaring inflation – set to hit 11% this autumn – is taken into account.

“We want an increase in line with the cost of living – we want to be able to buy, in 2022, what we could buy in 2021,” said general secretary Mick Whelan.

“It’s not unreasonable to ask your employer to make sure you’re not worse off for three years in a row,” said general secretary Mick Whelan.

“Especially as the train companies are doing very nicely, thank you, out of Britain’s railways – with handsome profits, dividends for shareholders, and big salaries for managers – and train drivers don’t want to work longer for less.”

He said strikes were a “last resort” but said “we’ve been forced into this position by the companies, who say they have been driven to this by the Tory government”.

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