Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, joins union members on the picket line outside Newcastle station, May 31, 2023
RAIL services in England are at a standstill on Saturday as members of train drivers’ union Aslef stage strike action targeting the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester.
The drivers will also strike on Wednesday, when Tory delegates are due to make their way home.
Drivers also operated an overtime ban today and will refuse rest-day working on Monday and Tuesday in advance of Wednesday’s strike.
Aslef’s decision to target the conference follows false accusations from the government and some media commentators that Aslef had timed strike action to disrupt public events including Christmas, the European Song Contest in Liverpool in May and the FA Cup Final in June.
General secretary Mick Whelan said: “Those who have falsely accused us of targeting events in the past, to hide their own shortcomings and bad faith, have inspired us to take action on these days.
“Any government that would try to indenture its own citizens should understand the ire and resentment they have caused, on top of their failure to give a pay rise for coming up to half a decade for some of our members.”
The drivers are in dispute with 16 rail operating companies.
Mr Whelan said: “While we regret having to take this action — we don’t want to lose a day’s pay, or disrupt passengers — the government, and the employers, have forced us into this position.
“Our members have not had a pay rise for four years — since 2019 — and that’s not right when prices have soared in that time.
“Train drivers, perfectly reasonably, want to be able to buy now what they could buy four years ago.”
Aslef said a pay proposal from the employers had been “a land grab for all our terms and conditions.”
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, representing operators, said: “We are ready and willing to talk to Aslef’s leaders so we can end this damaging dispute, but any talks about pay also need to address working practices that date back decades.
“It is obvious that the sector can only fund a pay rise by changing how it delivers services so it can respond to that transformation in how the public use the railway.”
