Train drivers’ union calls off Overground strike on 26 November
Train drivers’ union Aslef has called off its planned strike action on 26 November following a breakthrough in negotiations.
Union leaders said they received an offer from operator Arriva Rail London and put it to members, who will decided whether to take it.
“Members at London Overground will now have the opportunity to consider and vote on whether to accept the offer,” said general secretary Mick Whelan.
“This isn’t a top-down process. Our members – the people who kept the country moving, driving trains through the pandemic – make the decision.”
Arriva’s managing director Paul Hutchings told CityAM it was hoping for a positive outcome to the workers’ voting.
Aslef members working at 11 train operators – including Avanti West Coast, LNER and Chiltern Railways – will continue to walk out as part of a long-standing dispute over jobs, salaries and working conditions.
Recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the number of working days lost to strike action over the summer has topped 560,000, costing the UK economy £500m.
Mick Whelan said he considers the London Overground offer as a sign of the Department for Transport (DfT) preventing its contracted companies from taking part in negotiations freely.
“It’s clearer than ever that the DfT is preventing its contracted companies from taking part in free negotiation, and preventing them from making a fair pay offer to our members,” Wheland said.
“It’s time for the Transport Secretary to see sense, stop these ideological restrictions, and allow our employers to negotiate with us properly.”
Aslef is not the first union to call on transport secretary Mark Harper to remove the blocks to negotiations between workers and train operators.
“We remain eager to achieve a negotiated settlement which addresses the concerns of our members working in our rail industry and expect talks to include meaningful consultation on any proposed changes – something we have been expecting for months now but currently not forthcoming,” the union’s interim general secretary Frank Ward wrote in a letter on 27 October.”
“Anything you could do to remove the blockage to this would be much appreciated.”
CityAM has approached the DfT and Arriva Rail London for comment.