Rail strikes: LNER train drivers to walk out for five extra days in February | Business News
Train drivers on the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) line will strike for five days next month, their union, ASLEF, has said.
The drivers on the East Coast Main Line, which runs between London King’s Cross and Scotland via Newcastle, will walk out from 5 to 9 February.
Staff will also refuse to work any non-contractual overtime between 7 and 10 February.
It’s the latest move in the drivers’ long-running pay dispute and coincides with a series of strikes against train operators across England previously announced by ASLEF.
The union’s members will refuse to work overtime for nine days from 29 February and hold a week of rolling 24-hour strikes around England, one day at each individual operator, on different days between 30 January and 5 February.
The latest action is in response to the threatened imposition of minimum service levels at the state-run London-Scotland service, and fears that drivers would be forced to work, The Guardian said.
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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.
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In December, ASLEF members staged a week of walkouts after voting to continue taking industrial action for the next six months.
One rail dispute ended last month when members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union voted overwhelmingly to accept a deal to end their long-running fight over pay and conditions.
