Train drivers to vote on pay offer aimed at ending long-running dispute

Train drivers are to vote on a multi-year pay offer aimed at ending their long-running dispute, it has been announced.

Their union Aslef said the offer was made in talks at the Department for Transport, which started after Labour won the General Election following months of stalemate under the Conservatives.

The offer is for 5% for 2019 to 2022, 4.75% for 2022 to 2024 and a further 4.5% for 2024 to 2025, according to Aslef.

The drivers are being recommended to accept the offer, which would end the two-year-long dispute, during which they have taken 18 days of strike action as well as refusing to work non-contractual overtime, causing huge disruption to passengers.

Aslef said it has been the longest-running dispute in the history of Britain’s railways.

Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, who negotiated the deal with Simon Weller, assistant general secretary, and Dave Calfe, executive committee president, said: “We are pleased that after being treated with utter contempt for the last two years by the privatised train companies, and the previous government that was pulling their strings, we finally have a new Government that listens and wants to make the railway work for staff, for passengers, and for the taxpayer.

“The offer is a good offer, a fair offer, and it is what we have always asked for – a clean offer, without a land grab for our terms and conditions that the companies, and previous government, tried to take in April last year.

“We will put it to members with a recommendation for them to accept. We have achieved more in the last four weeks of a Labour Government than we managed under a Tory government that set out to destroy us – first by refusing to meet us, then by insisting the companies could only offer us 2%, then by offering us 4% but with a land grab for all the terms and conditions we have spent 144 years negotiating with productivity and sweat.

“We have gone from people behaving dishonestly and deceitfully and trying to rip up all our terms and conditions to a group of people who seem to understand the interests of rail workers, the travelling public, and the taxpayer.”

Aslef first balloted for industrial action in June 2022 and renewed its mandates for strike action and action short of a strike every six months.

The first strike was held in July 2022, followed by regular walkouts and rolling weeks of action until just before the General Election.

The Government described it as a “major breakthrough” following a series of “positive” talks.

The Department for Transport said the offer was a 5% pay rise for 2022/23, 4.75% for 23/24, and 4.5% for 24/25.

A statement said: “This marks a significant step towards resetting industrial relations and resolving the long-running rail dispute, which has seen services disrupted for over two years now. As the pay proposal includes an offer for the year ahead, it also means there is no national rail dispute on the horizon.

The Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, said the breakthrough showed how the Government was “putting passengers first” compared to the Conservatives who were “happy to see taxpayers pay the price” as strikes dragged on and passengers suffered.

Ms Haigh said: “When I took this job, I said I wanted to move fast and fix things – starting by bringing an end to rail strikes.

“The Conservatives were happy to see the taxpayer pay the price as strikes dragged on and on, and passengers suffered. This Labour Government is doing the right thing and putting passengers first.

“If accepted, this offer would finally bring an end to this long-running dispute, and allow us to move forward by driving up performance for passengers with the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation.”

The Department for Transport (DfT) said poor industrial relations have caused disruption and delay for working people, prevented families from visiting loved ones and stopped the public from attending events, damaging the hospitality sector.

It added that new industry estimates revealed that railway revenue foregone because of strikes since June 2022 has totalled around £850 million, describing it as a “debilitating” amount for the industry and a huge burden on the taxpayer.

Accounting for additional impacts of strikes, including those because of people being unable to work, or potential reductions in spending on hospitality and retail, the total impact likely exceeds £1 billion, said the government.

In the financial year of 2022/23 alone, strike action was estimated to cost more than £500 million of economic output thanks to people not being able to work, said the DfT.

The Conservatives accused Labour of having “just caved to the unions”.

“Ditching working practice reforms leaves a hole in the finances that can only be filled by higher fares or higher taxes,” Helen Whately, the shadow transport secretary, added.