Aslef train drivers offered to pay as rail strike continues Saturday | UK News

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Train operators have offered drivers’ union a two-year deal in a bid to resolve a bitter wage dispute – with strikes continuing across the rail network on Saturday.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said it was making an “outstanding detailed proposal” for a wage increase of 4% for 2022 and 4% for this year.

It also includes a commitment not to involuntary layoffs until at least March 31, 2024.

Steve Montgomery, President of RDG, said: “This is a fair and affordable offer in challenging times, providing a significant pay raise for train drivers while introducing sensible, long-term reforms that will increase reliability for passengers and allow railroads to adapt to changing travel patterns.”

The drivers’ union, Aslef, said it had not seen the offer.

It comes as members of Network Rail’s RMT union and 14 train companies continue a 48-hour strike that is set to paralyze services across the country again on Saturday.

Only about one in five trains will run, and services will start later and end earlier.

The RMT rejected a wage offer from the train companies of 4% last year and 4% this year, saying an “unacceptable set of changes” such as the wide expansion of running train services for drivers only were included.

He argued that while salaries for railway workers were frozen between March 2020 and September 2022, official data showed that private train operators made £310m in taxpayer-funded profits over the same period.

Photo: Drivers of South Eastern trains outside Ramsgate station in Kent during the Aslife Union drivers’ strike

By September this year, that figure will exceed £400m, all of which could be converted into dividends for shareholders, the federation said.

Mick Lynch, general secretary, RMT, said: “While the Foreign Secretary and the Rail Delivery Group have argued about the need for reform to fund pay increases, the truth is that the money has always been there but has been salted out by a cabal of beneficiary mates in government.

“It is outrageous that the interests of workers, passengers and taxpayers are sacrificed to the greed of a handful of private carriers who guarantee their profits when they cannot run a railway even when we are not on strike.”

Read more: When did the industries go on strike and what did they achieve? New strike laws confirmed ‘to ensure basic level of service’

The recent strikes are part of a long-running wage dispute between railway staff and train operating companies, which has caused widespread disruption to services across the UK.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Passengers are justly tired of rail strikes and want the disruption to end.

“Unions must stand back from this strike so that we can start 2023 by ending this devastating conflict.”

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