UK business travellers are set to suffer more “misery” as train drivers’ union ASLEF has announced more strike dates in February after rejecting the latest pay offer from rail companies.
The union said that its members would walk out on 1 and 3 February in a dispute that has already seen drivers hold six one-day strikes since July 2022. The action will affect 15 train operating companies across the country on these days.
ASLEF is just one of several rail unions currently in separate disputes with employers which has led to a series of crippling strikes since last summer.
The RMT union, which represents around 40,000 rail workers, held a series of 48-hour stoppages in December and January, which largely shut down the UK’s rail network, and is expected to announce new dates for industrial action as its own dispute drags on.
Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association, said: “The decision to hold further strikes will cause misery across the country. Businesses are being brought to a standstill and the rail industry is losing £1.4 million per day through the lack of corporate travel alone.
“The rail network should be the heartbeat of our country, it is essential that a deal is found to enable our businesses and economy to grow once more.”
The latest ASLEF strike next month will affect the following train companies: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, London North Eastern Railway, Northern Trains, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway, SWR Island Line, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, said of the latest pay offer: “The proposal is not and could not ever be acceptable but we are willing to engage in further discussions within the process that we previously agreed.
“Not only is the offer a real terms pay cut, with inflation running north of 10 per cent, but it came with so many conditions attached that it was clearly unacceptable.”