LNER train drivers to strike for five days in pay dispute

Cross-border trains are set to be hit next month

Drivers are set to take action next month (Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Train drivers on LNER are to stage a five-day strike next month in their long running pay dispute.

The drivers will also refuse to work any non-contractual overtime from February 7 to 10.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef said: “We have given LNER management, and their government counterparts who hold the purse strings, every opportunity to come to the table and they have so far made no realistic offer to our members.

“We have not heard from the transport secretary since December 2022, or from the train operating companies since April 2023.

“It’s time for them to come to the table and work with us to resolve this dispute so we can all move forward and get our railway back on track.”

The dispute started in the summer of 2022 and shows little sign of being resolved.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Ministers and train bosses must stop playing political games and get around the negotiating table. That’s how to put an end to these disputes.

“But they appear to be more interested in stoking tensions than finding a way through.

“The Department for Transport – on the orders of the Prime Minister – has stonewalled talks with Aslef for a year now.

“That’s not good faith engagement and negotiation – it’s deliberate intransigence.

“Instead of sitting down with unions for talks, ministers have pushed through draconian legislation to make it harder for working people to win better pay and conditions.

“Now ministers are cynically using this dispute to distract from their multiple failures.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Since taking office, Transport Secretary Mark Harper and Rail Minister Huw Merriman, have facilitated talks between industry and the trade unions that led to employers tabling a fair and reasonable offer which has resolved the disputes with RMT, TSSA and Unite after it was overwhelmingly accepted by union members, meaning Aslef is the only rail union still refusing to put the offer to a vote.”

An LNER spokesperson said: “Nobody wins when strikes impact customers and livelihoods.

“Instead of staging more damaging industrial action, we urge the Aslef leadership to work with industry negotiators to resolve the dispute. We remain focused on running reliable services for our customers.”