Next round of dates announced by ASLEF. 

[snip]

Great Western Railway
Strike day: Monday 5 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

These will be the first that adhere to the Minimum Service Level legislation recently introduced

Early days but it appears some TOCs aren’t planning on using that MSL’s. Some are already stating there will be no service.

LNER train drivers to strike for five more days

LNER *are* planning to use it - and as a result (as I'm reading it), ASLEF are stepping or considering stepping up their LNER strike. From the BBC

LNER *are* planning to use it - and as a result (as I'm reading it), ASLEF are stepping or considering stepping up their LNER strike. From the BBC

Train drivers' union Aslef has called off five consecutive days of strikes on LNER services that were set to begin next month.

The action affecting LNER, which operates on the East Coast Mainline, was scheduled to start on 5 February.

However, walkouts by train drivers for many rail operators will still take place between 30 January and 5 February in a row over pay and conditions.

LNER drivers will join in one day of strikes during that period.

A source told the BBC that Aslef had called off the extra five days of action because LNER had told the union that it no longer intended to put minimum service levels (MSLs) in place.

LNER had planned to implement the measure on 2 February, during a period of widespread strike action that will affect 16 train operators.

Under new laws, employers can require staff who are planning to walkout to provide 40% of timetabled rail services.

Looking for a bit of advice on behalf of a friend who is looking to travel from Westbury to Paddington (and back!) on Monday - is the overtime ban likely to have much impact on GWR services in the morning/evening peak?

He's trying to decide whether to make the effort.

Appreciate that this may be a difficult one to call but any advice would be most welcome.

Sounds like good advice to me, Graham.

But, Monday 5th is the actual strike day, not an overtime ban day.  This time of year an overtime ban is unlikely to have much effect, apart from on a Sunday when it will result in widespread disruption as before.  So avoid Sunday 4th Feb and then the actual strike day on GWR will also be badly disrupted.

Yes, if it was Monday 29th your advice is perfect.

Dear Graham
 
We wrote to you last week about ASLEF (train drivers union) industrial action starting today (Monday 29 January) until Tuesday 6 February, with a strike at GWR on Monday 5 February and action short of a strike for the other affected days.
 
This means that we are now only able to run a very limited high-speed service this Sunday 4 February, as we have fewer drivers available to work – especially on our long-distance services. As such, some parts of the GWR network will have no service at all, including all long distance trains out of London Paddington to Bristol, South Wales, and the South West. There will be no replacement bus services in lieu of these services in operation either.
 
Customers are advised to travel before the weekend or after Sunday. Where we can run services (and we expect to this include most of our local services), only a limited number of trains will run, they will be much busier than usual, and services will be subject to short notice alteration or cancellations.
 
Online journey planners should now be updated and accurate. Customers with tickets for travel from Tuesday 30 January to Monday 5 February can use these to travel from today (Monday 29 January) up to and including Wednesday 7 February.
 
Passengers aiming to travel from now until Tuesday 6 February should check before they travel using www.gwr.com/check. 
 
For full information please visit our dedicated strike page www.gwr.com/strike, which also includes information on refunds.
 
If you can share this amongst your networks, we would be greatly appreciative, and apologies for the disruption and the further difficult news. If there’s anything we can do to help, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
 
Best wishes
 
Tom
 

With SWR down as running a pretty normal Sunday service, journey planners are showing Cardiff-Bristol-Bath to London via Salisbury for Waterloo and South West to London changing onto SWR services at Exeter for Waterloo.

I wonder what, if anything SWR will do, particularly at Exeter to manage this? Am I right in saying they cannot running anything longer than x2 159s between Exeter and Salisbury?

with the newly announced strikes by members of the RMT union working for London Overground:
19-20 February
4-5 March

Mick Whelan's column: February 2024

Colleagues, we entered the new year announcing action across the train operating companies whose hands have been tied by the Tory government at Westminster. It is the bad faith shown by those companies in negotiations last year - and the determination of the Tories to turn this into a political dispute, rather than to allow individual TOCs to negotiate with us in the traditional way, using free collective bargaining - that caused us to have to take industrial action in furtherance of our pay and conditions protection. This should not have happened, ad does not need to happen, but has been forced upon us.

Let us not forget the other bad actors in the process: the companies themselves who sold their mercenary souls for a mess of pottage, happy to crap on their drivers, and other grades, to keep their snouts in the trough.

[continues]

The words "passenger" and "customer" do not appear in the column ...

And it is they who are deserting the railway to other methods of transport. Fewer passengers will mean a reduction in train services. Which will mean a reduction in the workforce. Mr Lynch is doing untold damage to the job security of his members.

And it is they who are deserting the railway to other methods of transport. Fewer passengers will mean a reduction in train services. Which will mean a reduction in the workforce. Mr Lynch is doing untold damage to the job security of his members.

The words "passenger" and "customer" do not appear in the column ...

The words “passenger” and “customer” do not appear in the column because he is talking to “colleagues”.

They sold their souls for a mess of pottage ASLEF (Press Release)

The words “passenger” and “customer” do not appear in the column because he is talking to “colleagues”.

The foremost concern of all colleagues is the wholly unacceptable decimation of our terms and conditions, something that the government is totally aware of. The government believe that the cost of operating the UK railway network, some £30bn, is a total waste of money.  Their hate of rail is clearly evident.  The likes of Mark Hopwood fully understand to increase revenue they need to increase services on existing routes and bring in new routes.  The government continually blocks this and firmly believes to balance the books requires cuts to services. This frustrates not only a lot of TOCs but also suppliers who are losing confidence in the rail industry and are turning their backs on it. The security isn’t there.  That sort of position leads to spiralling costs.
We need to shift from the current total anti-rail government to something that is more favourable and actually listens to the industry as a whole. The longer we stay as we are, the greater the damage being caused to the industry and the longer it will take to recover.

..........and breathe.......

I don’t think many of us have a problem with you showing a bit of passion about the subject.

The words “passenger” and “customer” do not appear in the column because he is talking to “colleagues”.

The foremost concern of all colleagues is the wholly unacceptable decimation of our terms and conditions, something that the government is totally aware of. The government believe that the cost of operating the UK railway network, some £30bn, is a total waste of money.  Their hate of rail is clearly evident.  The likes of Mark Hopwood fully understand to increase revenue they need to increase services on existing routes and bring in new routes.  The government continually blocks this and firmly believes to balance the books requires cuts to services. This frustrates not only a lot of TOCs but also suppliers who are losing confidence in the rail industry and are turning their backs on it. The security isn’t there.  That sort of position leads to spiralling costs.
We need to shift from the current total anti-rail government to something that is more favourable and actually listens to the industry as a whole. The longer we stay as we are, the greater the damage being caused to the industry and the longer it will take to recover.

I wonder if the membership were consulted on this decision?

BBC News - RMT leader Mick Lynch gives Jeremy Corbyn general election backing
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68393822

Not sure how that will go down with the 'rank and file' membership.
They will probably be more concerned with pay rises and less strike action.
I left the RMT for Unite (even tho' it was/is more expensive).
That was more of a local issue rather than a national level one.

I doubt many of the members will be that bothered. The vast majority are only union members for job protection etc and aren’t particularly bothered by national politics. Indeed there are union members who openly voted Tory at the last election.

Nice to see Easter not being targeted. 

Although it is during the school Easter holidays

Presumably more lucrative not to strike over the Easter weekend given premiums for working Bank Holidays/Easter Sunday?

Yes, GWR drivers used to get an enhancement of 0.25 for bank holidays but that was removed several years ago as part of a pay deal.  So, Good Friday and Easter Monday are flat rate pay and Easter Sunday is just a ‘normal’ Sunday with a 0.25 enhancement.

Avanti are the same, but I guess some other TOC’s may still have some form of an enhancement, but even then I doubt it’s a particularly lucrative one.

I take it that they at least get a day off in lieu for working a Bank Holiday?

I take it that they at least get a day off in lieu for working a Bank Holiday?

The GWR drivers (and GWR HSS grade ones as well) don’t get any days off in lieu.  IIRC bank holiday lieu days for drivers were removed going way back to the last century.  Even Christmas Day/Boxing Day come out of a drivers annual leave unless they happen to be off that day anyway.

Yes, it would all have been negotiated at the time as part of a pay rise, but does help demonstrate that a headline salary doesn’t always tell the full story as it doesn’t in many jobs in many industries.

Got it - GWRs website states 32 days annual leave "inclusive of Bank Holidays", which suggests they've been "rolled in", whereas for mere mortals such as myself annual leave is expressed as something along the lines of 25 days + bank holidays.

Regardless, it doesn’t alter the original question, which is that that there is no enhanced pay for GWR drivers (and many others) working over Easter weekend.

Which all begs the question: Why did ASLEF choose the weekend after Easter? 

Is ‘public support’ still much of a consideration for a dispute that has gone on for so long?

Yes, I think we’re kind of in agreement…though we’ll have to get you a Broadgage style bingo card. 

Here we go again......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68874928

Staff at 16 train companies will take part in rolling one-day walkouts between 7 and 9 May over pay and working conditions.
An overtime ban will also take place between 6 and 11 May.
Passengers are advised to check before they travel, with the action likely to lead to delays and cancellations.
The Bank Holiday falls on 6 May this year.
Aslef, the train drivers' union, said it is seeking better pay for its members and claimed drivers are being asked to sacrifice working conditions in exchange for a wage increase.
Drivers from several train companies will strike on different days.
Tuesday 7 May: c2c, Greater Anglia, Great Northern, Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern, Gatwick Express, South Western Railway main line and Island Line
Wednesday 8 May: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway and West Midlands Trains
Thursday 9 May: LNER, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express

Little progress has been made in solving the row between Aslef and the rail companies since the union first started striking in July 2022.

Politically beneficial to settle just before an election?

Yes, I was thinking along those lines.  Also, even though they are heading for a big defeat, the less seats they lose the better for them. 

Dear Graham,

We’re sorry to inform you that strike action will affect GWR, Cross Country, Chiltern Railways and other train operators on Wednesday 8 May 2024.

Service changes and potential disruptions

On Wednesday 8 May, a reduced, revised timetable will operate across several train operators, including GWR. Many parts of the GWR network will have no service at all and trains that are running will only be operating for a limited period during the day.

In addition, from Monday 6 to Saturday 11 May, services could also be affected by a limited number of short-notice cancellations and alterations.

What can you do on strike days?

Where trains can operate, they're expected to be very busy. If you're travelling during this period, you should check both outward and return journeys before travelling. Other train operators will also be affected, so onward travel may be impacted as well.

You could also consider travelling on another day. If you've already purchased a ticket for a strike day, you can claim a full refund or change the date and time of your ticket.

Seems that most Driver Managers and others are no longer prepared to drive trains on strike days.

I think some of the managers decided it wasn’t worth the hassle after the Ladbroke Grove wire incident last December. They are allowed to refuse.

AIUI GWR Driver Managers are not allowed to refuse if it is a weekday and they haven't pre-booked leave or anything like that...at least that's what I was told by one of them. 

Happy to be corrected if you can provide some evidence to the contrary?

I have no physical evidence, I was just told by my own that he had refused to work (I think it was the February strike) and so had the other managers at the depot.

Driver Managers?  As far as I know they are not eligible for ASLEF and are all in the TSSA.

Driver Managers?  As far as I know they are not eligible for ASLEF and are all in the TSSA.

Surely, the % figures ought to be of those entitled to vote, not that did vote?

Whose neck do you hang around?

Surely, the % figures ought to be of those entitled to vote, not that did vote?

Oh indeed - my answer is the pragmatic one, and not showing any strong desire to take a different and perhaps difficult path to my colleagues.  I admit I am a coward.

As a pendant,  if I were a train driver .....

Re-read your post....

As a pendant,  if I were a train driver and was asked "Are you prepared to take part in industrial action consisting of a strike?" if the truth be know, I would probably have voted "Yes".  But not because I wanted to strike, and irrespective of what I though of the case.  The biggest influence on my binary decision would be the knowledge that for years to come I would have to work alongside my colleagues and if I was not prepared to go strike ... memories are long, and there is much to be said for going along with the group decision.   The question asked was "are you prepapred to take part" and not "do you want to take part".

On this day - 24th May (2021)
Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, paving the way for the first national rail strike since 1994

Seeing as we're now 6 weeks from a general election, certainly not soon.

Six weeks later, new government - what happens now?

Six weeks later, new government - what happens now?

The Tories will be blamed. Labour will claim it’s all far worse than we imagined.

That goes both ways for years.  Did I really hear Liz Truss blaming her loss in the early hours of Friday morning on the consequences of what Labour left her party in 2010?    One of the less gracious speeches ... of the evening and I felt it stretched reality

The new government is set to hold fresh talks as early as next week over the train drivers’ pay dispute.

The Press Association has reported that rail union ASLEF and the Department for Transport look set to enter talks to discuss the matter sometime next week.

The Labour-affiliated train drivers’ union has been embroiled in a long-running row over pay with the government.

Fresh talks in train drivers’ pay dispute ‘constructive’ – Aslef

to resolve their long-running pay dispute have been described as “constructive”.

The meeting at the Department for Transport (DfT) on Tuesday will be followed by further talks in the coming weeks.

The two sides met after months of stalemate under the Conservatives in the two-year row over pay, terms and conditions.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train companies involved in the row, was not invited to attend Tuesday’s meeting.

With a new Secretary of State for Transport in place, I hope, and think, we can, and will, get a deal done

Aslef members have taken 18 days of strikes since the dispute started, causing huge disruption to passengers.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, described the talks as “constructive”, adding that with a new government in place, he hopes there can be a positive resolution that works for train drivers, whom he said have not had an increase in salary for five years.

Mr Whelan said the Conservative government and its transport ministers had “put the brakes” on a deal, adding: “Now, with a new Secretary of State for Transport in place, I hope, and think, we can, and will, get a deal done.”

It was the first meeting between the union and the transport department since April last year.

Previous talks have involved the Rail Delivery Group.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said in a recent message on X, formerly Twitter: “Fourteen years without a workforce strategy has left our railways understaffed, reliant on voluntary working and lurching from one crisis to the next. Our urgent priority is to reset workforce relations and put passengers first.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “The Transport Secretary has been clear she wants to reset industrial relations for the benefit of passengers and the workforce.

“Today officials resumed talks with Aslef, holding a constructive meeting as we look to resolve this long-running dispute.

“Further conversations will be held in the coming weeks.”

................something tells me they may be disappointed?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/train-drivers-demand-pay-rise-five-times-higher-than-inflation-to-end-strikes/ar-BB1qGc3l?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=a97511f13acf44a59d7bd5d317a5b7c8&ei=6

No, inflation is around 25% for the last five years. A £60000 salary in 2019 should be worth around £75000 now. A 10% payrise for drivers is a decent uplift but nowhere near what it ‘should’ be.