Rail drivers' strike action to coincide with Conservative party conference

Train drivers across England have announced two days of strike action in a move designed to "seriously disrupt" rail networks during the opening and closing of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

Members of the Aslef union will strike on Saturday 30 September and Wednesday 4 October. In addition, there will be an overtime ban in place. The move means rail service in England on those days will be virtually nonexistent, and cross-border services into Scotland and Wales will also be hit.

The industrial action means all 16 companies contracted to the Department of Transport in England will grind to a halt.

Disputes involving both Aslef, the train drivers' union and the RMT, representing all other rail workers, commenced in summer 2022 and have morphed into multiple strikes ever since. Over the winter, of December 2022 to January 2023, thousands of RMT workers walked out in a strike that began on Christmas Eve.

The impending strikes will represent the 12th and 13th 24-hour walkouts respectively since the beginning of the dispute over pay in 2022.

Train operators claim that any pay rise must be accompanied by changes to working arrangements, with the latter stipulation accepted by ministers.

Mick Whelan, Aslef's general secretary, said: "While we regret having to take this action – we don't want to lose a day's pay or disrupt passengers, as they try to travel by train – the government, and the employers, have forced us into this position. Our members have not, now, had a pay rise for four years."

Whelan suspects that Aslef has not had any recent communication with the government after being told by train operators that it is ministers who have the final say on contract terms and pay offers.

The general secretary stated: "We last saw the secretary of state for Transport in December. We last saw Huw Merriman, the rail minister, in January. And we last saw the train companies in April. Since then, nothing. Nada. Zilch. Not a letter, not an email, not a text message, not a phone call, not a WhatsApp. Not a word!"

Taking to the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, transport secretary Mark Harper wrote: "Aslef's cynical strikes on 30 September and 4 October are politically motivated. Train drivers are paid an average of £60k for a 35-hour, four-day week."

"There's an offer on the table to take that up to £65k – and still they strike, putting their own jobs at risk," he continued.

The offer made by the train operators, which was rejected by Aslef, included a series of changes to working practices which would enable pay rises of four per cent in one year and four per cent in the next.

Speaking in Parliament on 15 June 2022, then Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: "The median salary for a train driver is £59,000, compared with £31,000 for a nurse and £21,000 for a care worker."

At the time, the RMT union was on strike. It was then pointed out by commentators that the salary figure was not representative of RMT union members, who comprise rail workers excluding drivers.

At the time, the Department for Transport generated a median salary figure for rail workers excluding train drivers. This figure was £36,800.

Mick Whelan, general secretary, said while the union regretted striking again, "the government, and the employers, have forced us into this position".

He said the union's members had not had a pay rise since 2019, which was "not right when prices have soared in that time".

He went on to say: "Train drivers, perfectly reasonably, want to be able to buy now what they could buy four years ago."

In 2021, the median salary for train drivers was £59,189 per year.

Referring to the transport secretary, Mark Harper, Whelan said: "The train companies have told us ... they cannot act without his say-so. But he's hiding."

He added: "Do you remember Where's Wally? Well, what we want to know is where's Harper?"