Since nationwide rail strikes started in the summer season of 2022, tons of of hundreds of thousands of journeys have been cancelled. Billions of kilos have been misplaced to the UK financial system, significantly hospitality companies – and taxpayers are subsidising an more and more decrepit and unreliable railway to the tune of £90 per second on prime of the regular subsidy.
After the latest spherical of business motion by prepare drivers belonging to the Aslef union, the solely certainty is that extra walk-outs will comply with.
Over the previous 19 months of strikes, there was zero progress in the dispute between Aslef and the 14 rail corporations managed by the UK authorities and represented by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG).
In a snap social media ballot for The Independent, with 2,142 responses, one in three passengers say they are going to completely journey much less after the industrial motion lastly ends.
Meanwhile different strikes are occurring intermittently, with London Overground employees getting ready to stroll out. The RMT has known as two 48-hour strikes in February and March on the capital commuter community
These are the key questions and solutions.
Where are we with industrial motion on the railways?
Many rail passengers might really feel nationwide strikes have been occurring without end. In reality, the first nationwide rail walkouts since the 1980s started in the summer season of 2022.
The bigger rail union, the RMT, has ended its marketing campaign of strikes for now. But Aslef, the smaller but extra highly effective prepare drivers’ union, is as removed from an settlement as ever with the 14 English rail corporations whose operations are managed by the authorities.
Since the dispute started, Aslef has known as common strikes and bans on rest-day working. The latest industrial motion by prepare drivers, comprising an time beyond regulation ban and “rolling” regional walk-outs, hit for 9 days from 29 January to 6 February.
The purpose of those rolling strikes and the ban on rest-day working is to trigger most disruption for minimal lack of pay.
How a lot has all the disruption value?
According to the RDG, industrial motion from June 2022 up till mid-January 2024 has value the rail sector round £775m in misplaced income. That doesn’t embody the influence of the most up-to-date strikes, which most likely provides an additional £50m to the losses.
UKHospitality estimates the misplaced enterprise for locations to eat, drink and keep quantities to nearly £5bn. Kate Nicholls, the organisation’s chief government, says: “Ongoing strike action hurts businesses, prevents people from getting to work and significantly erodes confidence in the rail network.”
In addition, there is an unknowable lack of income from passengers who’ve adjusted their existence or discovered different types of transport; companies which have stopped making journeys and are utilizing on-line communication as a substitute; and individuals trimming again on journey due to the lack of certainty.
What is at the root of the dispute?
The prepare drivers are demanding a no-strings pay rise – and say that some Aslef members haven’t had a rise for 5 years. But the authorities insists that even a modest pay improve is contingent on radical modifications to long-standing working preparations with a purpose to scale back prices and the nearly £250 per second subsidy the railway is at the moment receiving from the taxpayer – 43 per cent increased than regular, based on authorities figures.
Since the pandemic, journey patterns have modified. Ticket income is about one-fifth down on pre-Covid ranges. As taxpayers will foot the eventual invoice for the prepare drivers’ pay rise, the Department for Transport will log out any deal. Ministers imagine prepare drivers’ phrases and situations are a part of the drawback.
To preserve prices down, they need to settle for modifications to how they work, comparable to making Sunday a part of the working week in all places. The union say this is fully unacceptable. The prepare drivers will negotiate on such modifications, however solely after they get an honest no-strings pay provide on prime of their present pay, averaging £60,000 a 12 months. They imagine the cash can be discovered to fulfill their calls for, as a result of it all the time has been in the previous. They have additionally all the time “sold” reforms to working preparations for an additional few per cent on their pay, and they don’t intend to cease now.
Stuck in the center: the passenger.
Which rail corporations are concerned?
Aslef is in dispute with the prepare operators which might be contracted by the authorities to offer rail companies. They are:
Intercity operators:
Avanti West Coast
CrossCountry
East Midlands Railway
Great Western Railway (GWR)
LNER
TransPennine Express
Southeast England commuter operators:
C2C
Greater Anglia
GTR (Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern, Thameslink)
Southeastern
South Western Railway (together with the Island Line on the Isle of Wight)
Operators specializing in the Midlands and north of England:
Chiltern Railways
Northern Trains
West Midlands Railway (together with London Northwestern Railway)
Which corporations aren’t concerned?
ScotRail, Transport for Wales, Transport for London (together with the Elizabeth Line), Merseyrail and “open-access” operators comparable to Grand Central, Hull Trains and Lumo. But their companies are crowded on days of business motion, the place they duplicate journeys of strike-hit firms.
What are the warring sides saying?
Rail minister Huw Merriman informed The Independent: “We believe a fair and reasonable offer is there on the table for Aslef if they put it to their members. These are train drivers that are paid an average £60,000 for a 35-hour, four-day week. The pay deal would take them up to £65,000.”
A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group, representing the prepare operators, mentioned: “There aren’t any winners from these strikes that may sadly trigger disruption for our prospects. We imagine rail can have a vivid future, however proper now taxpayers are contributing an additional £54m per week to maintain companies operating post-Covid.
“Aslef’s management have to recognise the monetary problem dealing with rail. Instead of staging extra damaging industrial motion, we name on the Aslef management to work with us to resolve this dispute and ship a good deal which each rewards our individuals, and makes the modifications wanted to make companies extra dependable.”
But Mick Whelan, basic secretary of Aslef, says it’s a garbage deal that he can’t probably put to his members – a few of whom haven’t had a pay rise for 5 years. Aslef members have constantly voted overwhelmingly for industrial motion in pursuit of their calls for.
The union says it has had no talks with Mark Harper, the transport secretary, since 2022; with Huw Merriman, the rail minister, since January 2023; and with the employers since April 2023.
Mr Whelan mentioned: “We have given the government every opportunity to come to the table but it has now been a year since we had any contact from the Department for Transport. It’s clear they do not want to resolve this dispute.”
Meanwhile, the corrosion in confidence amongst travellers continues, with no rail passenger capable of plan journeys greater than two weeks forward – that being the minimal discover the union should give for industrial motion.
What about the new minimal service ranges legislation?
Legislation now permits the transport secretary to stipulate minimal service ranges (MSLs) on strike days amounting to 40 per cent of the regular service. The authorities says the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 goals “to ensure that the public can continue to access services that they rely on, during strike action.”
No prepare operator is in search of to impose the new legislation on the prepare drivers’ union. LNER mentioned it would achieve this, and opened consultations, at which level Aslef known as a separate five-day strike on LNER alone. Then the prepare operator mentioned it could not require drivers to work, and the strike was known as off.
The BBC stories that the prime minister is dissatisfied that prepare operators had not applied minimal service ranges. A Downing Street spokesperson mentioned: “Yes, it’s one thing that we and the public anticipate them to make use of.
“We’ve been repeatedly been clear that this laws is accessible for prepare operators to make use of.”
The Transport Select Committee has beforehand warned of potential unintended penalties of the laws. The Conservative chair, Iain Stewart, mentioned: “There is a risk of MSLs worsening worker-employer relations and that, as a result, MSLs could end up making services less reliable.”
The minimal service degree guidelines don’t apply to union bans on non-contractual rest-day working – so there could be no profit in imposing the legislation when an time beyond regulation ban is in pressure.
What are the London Overground strikes about?
Pay. More than 300 members of the RMT will stage two 48-hour walkouts on the London Overground on Mondays and Tuesdays two weeks aside: 19–20 February 2024 and 4–5 March 2024. Among these taking motion are safety, station, income and management employees.
The RMT mentioned that Arriva Rail London, which has the contract for London Overground, has supplied a beneath inflation pay provide.
Mick Lynch, basic secretary of the RMT, mentioned: “If this dispute cannot be resolved then RMT is more than prepared for a sustained period of industrial action to get London Overground workers the pay rise they deserve.”
The boss of Arriva Rail London, Steve Best, informed The Independent: “We believe we have offered a good pay award in comparison not only to our industry, but other industries and businesses in the UK too. We remain committed to engaging with the RMT in the hope of resolving this dispute,” he mentioned.
“We stay in a cost-pressurised setting, and it is subsequently necessary for us to supply our colleagues a pay award that is inexpensive and sustainable. We are dedicated to delivering truthful pay awards for our staff, in addition to defending long-term job safety for our individuals.
He mentioned: “We are placing sturdy contingency plans in place ought to any industrial motion go forward, to make sure the security and safety of our individuals and prospects.”
What does the Labour Party say?
Louise Haigh, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, mentioned: “It is a staggering dereliction of responsibility that the transport secretary hasn’t obtained round the desk with the unions to attempt to resolve it since the Christmas earlier than final.
“Labour will take an unashamedly completely different strategy to the Tories, and will work with either side to succeed in a deal in the pursuits of passengers and employees. If the transport secretary took this wise strategy then maybe we wouldn’t nonetheless be having strikes on our railways.”
The shadow rail minister, Stephen Morgan MP, has beforehand mentioned: “Labour will bring our railways back into public ownership, as contracts expire, and ensure services work in the interests of the passenger.”
