Train strikes near end as Aslef reaches deal

Train drivers are set to vote on new pay deal aimed at ending the long-running strike action that has been affecting the hospitality industry for two years

Following a total of 18 days of strike action over the past two years, the costly rail strikes that have hindered so many could finally be over.

ASLEF, the train drivers' union, has received a pay offer from the Department for Transport which will be put to its members with a recommendation to accept.

If ASLEF members vote yes, it will end the national two-year pay dispute. The three-phase offer from government is for a 5% rise for 2022-2023; 4.75% for 2023 to 2024; and 4.5% for 2024 to 2025, all backdated and pensionable.

"We are pleased that after being treated with utter contempt for the last two years by the privatised train companies and the previous government that was pulling their strings, we finally have a new government that listens and wants to make the railway work for staff, for passengers and for the taxpayer," says Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary.

"The offer is a good offer – a fair offer – and it is what we have always asked for, a clean offer, without a land grab for our terms and conditions that the companies, and previous government, tried to take in April last year. We will put it to members with a recommendation for them to accept."

Talks began last month with ASLEF and the new Labour government. Industrial action has continued from the initial pay offer rejection back in April 2023. 


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