Commuters face one other wave of strikes and rail disruption later this month, as practice drivers maintain rolling walkouts and a ban on additional time.
The disruption is the most recent blow to travellers, who’ve been hit with 20 months of disruption since unions started their pay dispute with the Government and practice working firms.
Here is all the pieces you should know concerning the newest industrial motion…
When are the practice strikes and which rail firms are affected?
Aslef union members will stage industrial motion over 5 days between Tuesday, January 30 and Monday, February 5 – and can ban additional time for 9 days from January 29.
Aslef had introduced that practice drivers on LNER will strike for 5 days in February within the long-running pay dispute, however these strikes have now been called off.
In all, 16 practice operators can be affected, though every will solely be affected by a single day of strike motion. See under which operators can be affected on completely different days:
Tuesday, January 30: Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, Great Northern, GTR Thameslink, South Western Railway fundamental line and depot drivers, and SWR Island Line
Wednesday, January 31: Northern Trains and TransPennine Trains
Friday, February 2: C2C, Greater Anglia, and LNER
Saturday, February 3: Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, and West Midlands Trains
Monday, February 5: Chiltern, CrossCountry and GWR
CANCELLED: Monday, February 5 to Friday, February 9: LNER
I believed the practice strikes have been over – why are there extra?
Aslef’s ongoing dispute over pay has hit travellers for the previous 20 months, and practice drivers represented by the Aslef union have voted overwhelmingly to proceed strike motion for the subsequent six months, doubtlessly heaping extra distress on commuters in 2024.
Strikes have additionally been held since June 2022 by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union.
However, in December they voted overwhelmingly to simply accept a deal to finish their long-running dispute over pay and situations. The deal will see the union droop industrial motion till a minimum of April 2024 in change for a backdated pay provide which put all members in line to obtain a lump sum Christmas cost of a minimum of £1,750.
What about minimal service ranges?
The Aslef rail strikes may very well be the primary check of recent rules aimed toward making certain a minimal stage of service throughout walkouts, set at 40laptop within the transport sector.
A invoice for minimal requirements for passenger rail companies, ambulance companies and hearth and rescue companies was handed in July, to make sure important companies stay in place. It means employers will be capable of dismiss workers who refuse to show as much as work when ordered to, whereas unions failing to satisfy minimal ranges may face authorized motion.
However, the union has reacted to this by warning such laws may worsen any industrial motion.
Mr Whelan stated: “Having seen, since this dispute began in June 2022, the resolve of our members, and the assist practice drivers take pleasure in amongst our passengers and the general public, the Tories have now tried their outdated trick of adjusting the foundations.
“When they couldn’t bully us into backing down they introduced in minimal service ranges – designed, successfully, to ban strikes by making them ineffective – however this new regulation gained’t ease industrial strife. It will simply make it worse.”
