Peter Lazenby
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TRAIN drivers begin their first 24-hour strike tomorrow after suffering three years of pay cuts and attacks on working conditions.
Members of train drivers’ union Aslef are refusing to accept pay cuts as taxpayer-subsidised rail operators distribute profits among their shareholders.
All three major rail unions — Aslef, RMT and TSSA — are now in conflict with the operators and the government over issues which stretch beyond pay to defending thousands of jobs as employers attack services, including the closure of 1,000 rail ticket offices.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who considers the RMT to be “hard left,” has been accused of sabotaging any chances of a settlement by limiting operators’ room for negotiations.
And any costs to the operators caused by strike action will be underwritten by taxpayers as part of the operators’ franchise agreements with the government.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said that strikes are always the last resort.
He said: “We don’t want to inconvenience passengers — our friends and families use public transport too — and we don’t want to lose money by going on strike, but we’ve been forced into this position by the companies, who say they have been driven to this by the Tory government.
“Many of our members, men and women who moved key workers and goods around the country during the pandemic, have not had a pay rise since 2019.
“With inflation running at north of 10 per cent, that means those drivers have had a real-terms pay cut over the last three years.
“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.”
Mr Whelan said that it is “not unreasonable to ask your employer to make sure you’re not worse off for three years in a row.”
“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. Train drivers don’t want to work longer for less,” he added.
“Wage rises aren’t fuelling inflation. Excess profiteering is.”
