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UK ministers have offered train drivers in England a pay rise of more than 14 per cent over three years, in a deal reached with the union that is set to end a wave of strikes on the railways.
The Aslef union’s leadership said the deal would end “the longest pay dispute in the recent history of Britain’s railways”, and urged members to accept the deal in an upcoming ballot.
If agreed the deal would end one of the last outstanding public sector pay disputes that have gripped the country over the past two years. Ministers reached a 22 per cent pay deal with junior doctors last month.
Aslef, which has staged 18 one-day strikes since the dispute began in June 2022, had been pushing for a major pay rise to help its members cope with the cost of living crisis.
Aslef leader Mick Whelan said: “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.”
Transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “If accepted, this offer would finally bring an end to this long-running dispute, and allow us to move forward by driving up performance for passengers.”
The partly-backdated pay offer from the government is 5 per cent for the 2022-2023 financial year, 4.75 per cent for 2023-2024, and 4.5 per cent for 2024-2025. It totals 14.25 per cent across the three years.
In April 2023, Aslef’s leadership rejected an offer of an 8 per cent rise over two years from the previous government, in part because the deal was tied to significant reforms of working practices.
The last Conservative government and train companies had insisted that the railway needed to cut costs, and that drivers needed to accept significant changes to the way they work in order to unlock a pay deal.
Drivers are largely employed by private companies, which are contracted by the government to run train services.
Three transport unions began rail strikes in the summer of 2022 in rows over pay rises and potential changes to working practices as the industry looked to cut costs in response to a fall in passenger numbers during the Covid pandemic.
Aslef was the only union still in dispute after the other main transport unions, the RMT and TSSA, agreed pay deals to end their disputes with both train companies and Network Rail, the publicly owned infrastructure manager.
The government on Wednesday estimated that the combined impact of two-years of rail strikes cost the economy more than £1bn, including potential reductions in spending on hospitality and retail.
It also released industry estimates that found the railway has lost £850mn in revenue during the wave of strikes by several unions since June 2022.
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