Train drivers will stage a series of strikes and a ban on overtime in the lead-up to the Christmas period.
The Aslef union has issued the dates that strikes will take place in December on rail services across the UK.
It said the new walkouts will ‘ratchet up the pressure’ on train companies and the government to give drivers their first pay rise in more than four years.
Here’s when you can expect walkouts on rail services, and which services will be affected in December.
When are the train strikes in December 2023?
Union members will walk out from the following rail companies on these dates:
- EMR and LNER on December 2
- Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern Thameslink, and WMT on December 3
- C2C and Greater Anglia on December 5
- Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, the SWR main line and depot, and the Island Line on December 6
- CrossCountry and GWR on December 7
- Northern and TPT on December 8.
All Aslef members will also refuse to work any overtime from Friday, December 1 to Saturday, December 9.
Aslef said it had previously called all its members out on strike on the same day but by spreading the action, the ramifications for the rail industry will be ‘greater’.
‘We are determined to win this dispute and get a significant pay rise for train drivers who have not had an increase since 2019, while the cost of living, in that time, has soared,’ Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said.
‘The transport secretary, who has gone missing in action during this dispute, says we should put the offer to our members.
‘What the minister apparently fails to understand is that, since the Rail Delivery Group’s (RDG) risible offer in April, we have received overwhelming mandates, on enormous turnouts, for more industrial action.
‘Our members have spoken and we know what they think. Every time they vote – and they have voted overwhelmingly – for strike action in pursuit of a proper pay rise it is a clear rejection of the offer that was made in April.
‘The RDG’s offer – a land grab for all our terms and conditions – was made in the full knowledge that it couldn’t – and wouldn’t – be accepted.’
In the last 12 months, Aslef said it has successfully struck pay deals with 14 companies, including freight firms, open-access operators, Eurostar, and passenger companies in Scotland and Wales where transport issues are devolved.
The union said: ‘We have been unable to do a deal with the 16 train operating companies (TOCs) in England controlled by the Government.
‘This is a dispute in England made at Westminster by the Tory government.
‘We gave the TOCs a way out of this dispute which they chose not to accept because the government interfered.
‘We suggested a significant across-the-board increase for all drivers, at all the companies involved, to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.’
It added: ‘Other matters, we said, could then be dealt with company by company because terms and conditions are different at each company.
‘We will continue to take industrial action until the train companies – and/or the government – sits down and negotiates with us in good faith.’
Aslef has held 14 one-day strikes during the 18-month dispute, causing huge disruption to services across the country.
Strikes have also been held since June 2022 by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, who are now voting on a deal aimed at resolving their dispute.
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