A union chief has accused the Government and rail firms of acting in "bad faith" as walkouts cause fresh misery for millions of commuters..
Aslef members at 16 train companies will stage strikes this week in a bitter dispute over pay and working conditions. The first wave of strikes will be held today, with Southeastern, Greater Anglia, Thameslink and Gatwick Express among the services affected.
Aslef has accused the Government of "giving up" trying to resolve the long-running dispute. No formal talks between the operators and the union have been held for a year after members rejected a previous deal.
Mick Whelan, who heads the Aslef union, accused rail firms of "bad faith" over new working practices - including changes to sick pay. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Unfortunately, after half a decade without a pay rise, we are trapped in this circle."
Train drivers were last year offered an 8% rise over two years, but the increase was tied to reform of their contracts. Mr Whelan branded it a "ripping up of all working practices". He of the second round of talks: "I sat down for a month, took out all the red lines out and then at the last minute somebody changed the deal and put them all back in again. And then within 12 hours of that act of bad faith, there was a further act of bad faith in the deal itself.
"So the people that are talking to you don't tell the truth about their side of the story, about where we've been and how far we've tried to make this work. And if anyone can explain to me how cutting sick pay is going to make the railways run quicker, better and give better performance, please help me."
Train drivers will strike on the following days:
- Tuesday May 7: c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR's Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern (including Gatwick Express), Southeastern, and South Western Railway.
- Wednesday May 8: Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, Chiltern, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, GWR, and West Midlands Trains.
- Thursday May 9: LNER, Northern, and TransPennine Express.
Mr Whelan went on: "We've had half a decade of pay rise while the people that we actually work for are declaring hundreds of millions of pounds in profits and paying dividends to shareholders with no revenue or performance risk."
There is a glimmer of hope that negotiations could start again after the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) invited Aslef to talks about exploring any common ground. A spokesman for the RDG said: "The rail industry is working hard to keep trains running but it is likely that services on some lines will be affected on the evening before and morning after each strike between May 7 and May 9 because many trains will not be in the right depots to start services the following day.
"We can only apologise to our customers for this wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership which will sadly disrupt journeys once again. It will also inflict further damage on an industry that is receiving up to an additional £54 million a week in taxpayer cash to keep services running, following the Covid downturn."
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "The Transport Secretary and rail minister have already facilitated a pay offer that would take train drivers' average salaries up to £65,000 - almost twice the UK average salary. Aslef are the only union left striking after the Government oversaw deals with all the other unions."