Downing Street Admits Fresh Rail Strikes Are "Extremely Disappointing" As Pressure Grows Over Pay Award
3 min read
Downing Street admitted it was “extremely disappointing” that passengers face being hit by more rail strikes despite train drivers winning a pay hike of 14 per cent over three years.
Aslef’s latest industrial action against LNER has intensified criticism of the government’s decision to move to settle train drivers’ long-running pay dispute.
Critics say the fresh unrest shows that the proposed pay award has only emboldened unions and will lead to a wave of new demands and more strikes.
Ministers insist that the latest Aslef strike — which concerns working arrangements on LNER — has nothing to do with the pay dispute and defend their decision to bring to an end an economically damaging series of strikes.
Speaking to reporters, Keir Starmer’s official spokesman called for fresh talks to “resolve this dispute as quickly as possible”.
The strikes will begin on 31 August, with drivers not working on consecutive weekends until 10 November. LNER operates on the East Coast mainline which almost stretches 400 miles across England and Scotland.
Ministers proposed a pay deal to Aslef train drivers which they claimed would end almost three years of rail disruption. The deal will raise the average salary of train drivers by £9,000 in backdated wages. The proposed agreement includes a series of pay rises of 5 per cent between 2022-23, 4.75 per cent between 2023-24, and 4.5 per cent for 2024-25.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said the Department of Transport had spoken and written to both Aslef and the LNER, and confirmed the dispute related to working patterns as opposed to salary.
The upcoming industrial action from the train drivers’ union concerns disagreements over working conditions, which include accusations of “bullying” behaviour by managers towards staff.
Downing Street did not directly respond to questions over whether the prime minister was concerned the decision to strike was likely to have a knock-on effect and lead to other public bodies asking for more money.
But Starmer's spokesperson admitted that the prospect of more strikes was a blow. “It is extremely disappointing for passengers, “ the spokesperson added. “This dispute relates to specific local arrangements on working patterns not pay. So it's distinct from the dispute that was discussed and resolved in terms of an offer being tabled last week. But of course, it's disappointing, and we urge them to get around the table and resolve it."
Aslef has rejected the accusation that Labour were a “soft touch” after the union was offered an enhanced pay deal.
Louise Haigh, the transport secretary, has claimed train strikes have cost the UK economy more than £1 billion - more than the cost of the new pay deal.
Haigh wrote in the Mirror on Saturday that she had made her “frustrations clear” that both parties had to get “around the table, negotiate in good faith and stop this action before it starts”.
“We cannot afford to continue the cynical approach of the Conservatives, which treated rail workers as a political football and led to the longest ever national strike because they had no plan to fix our railways,” she wrote in the article.
“That simply drained public trust – something this government is now urgently trying to fix.”
The PM's spokesperson confirmed that it remained Labour’s plan is to renationalise the railways when the current operators’ contract runs out.
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