Rail passengers to face more travel disruption due to train driver's overtime ban
30.07.2023 - 14:07
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Rail passengers could face more travel disruption next week due to a ban on overtime by train drivers as part of a campaign of action in the dispute over pay.
Members of Aslef at 15 train companies across England will refuse to work overtime from Monday (July 31) to Saturday (August 5) and again from August 7 to 12. The union said its members involved in the dispute have not had a pay rise for four years.
Aslef said the overtime ban, which is the withdrawal of non-contractual overtime, will seriously disrupt services, adding that none of the train companies employs enough drivers.
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It will impact a number of providers, including Avanti West Coast, Cross Country, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Northern Trains, TransPennine Express, and West Midlands Trains.
The overtime ban follows strikes last week by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) which crippled services. Around 20,000 staff employed by 14 train operating companies staged a 24-hour walkout on Saturday (July 29) in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We don’t want to take this action, because we don’t want people to be inconvenienced, but the train companies, and the Government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12 per cent."
Mr Whelan said an offer made in April was for a 4 per cent pay increase, with a further rise dependent on drivers giving up terms and