When are the next train strikes? December 2024 dates

Train drivers are to stage a series of one-day strikes and a nine-day ban on overtime next month in their long-running dispute over pay.

Aslef said the new walkouts will ratchet up the pressure on train companies and the Government to give train drivers their first pay rise in more than four years.

All Aslef members will refuse to work any overtime from Friday 1 December to Saturday 9 December.

When are the next train strikes?

Train drivers will walk out over six days from Saturday 2 to Wednesday 8 December, with 16 operators affected.

The action is expected to cause widespread cancellations. National Rail will update its information for passengers closer to the time.

Here are the lines affected:

• Saturday 2 December – East Midlands Railway, LNER
• Sunday 3 December – Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern Thameslink, West Midlands Trains
• Tuesday 5 December – C2C, Greater Anglia
• Wednesday 6 December – Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, SWR main line, SWR depot drivers, Island Line
• Thursday 7 December – CrossCountry, GWR
• Friday 8 December – Northern, TPT

Why are train drivers striking?

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan criticised Transport Secretary Mark Harper, who made comments he labelled “disingenuous” while speaking at a select committee hearing on Wednesday.

Mr Harper told MPs at the Transport Committee: “There is, most people think, a perfectly fair and reasonable offer on the table and I genuinely don’t understand why Aslef won’t put it to their members.”

He was referring to an offer made in April that the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) says would take “average salaries for train drivers up from nearly £60,000 a year to almost £65,000 a year for, on average, a four-day week”.

Aslef has previously described this offer as “risible”.

Mr Whelan said: “What the minister apparently fails to understand is that we have received overwhelming mandates, on enormous turnouts, for more industrial action. Our members have spoken and we know what they think. It is a clear rejection of the offer that was made in April.”

Aslef’s announcement comes after the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said it would pause its industrial action over Christmas and into spring next year if an interim agreement with firms is accepted by members.

It represents a significant breakthrough in their dispute over pay and conditions that has led to 18 months of strikes.

An RDG spokesperson said the agreement “sets out a process for a mutually agreed way forward, including a backdated 2022 pay rise for staff and job security guarantees”, which will now be “put to RMT members in each of the train-operating companies in a referendum vote”.

The spokesperson said that the deal would allow for “important negotiations on proposed reforms to take place at local train-operating company level, through the established collective bargaining structures … aimed at addressing the companies’ proposals on the changing needs and expectations of passengers as well as unlocking further increases for staff”.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “This is a welcome development and our members will now decide in an e-referendum whether they want to accept this new offer from the RDG.”

The Government has announced further steps it says will ensure essential public services remain open during industrial action.

The move, following news of a series of fresh strikes by train drivers next month, includes a consultation on allowing agency workers to cover for strikers following a defeat on the issue in the High Court in June.

The TUC accused the Government of trying to resurrect its “irrational” plans, warning it will escalate disputes.

Ministers published guidance on Thursday following royal assent of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act in July, which aims to ensure some services such as trains, will run during industrial action.

The Business Department said: “Where strike action is called and where minimum service level regulations are in place, employers can issue work notices to identify people who are required to work to help ensure the minimum service levels are met. Today’s guidance will support employers, trade unions and workers on issuing these work notices.”

So-called “reasonable steps” unions will have to take include identifying members, contacting those named in a work notice and advising them not to strike, and seeking to avoid encouraging those named in a work notice not to cross a picket line.

If a union fails to take these steps, they will lose their legal protection from damages claims and possible injunctions.