SCHOOL holiday trains are under threat as drivers launch ANOTHER week-long ban on overtime.
Aslef announce they would refuse the extra shifts – threatening disruption to train services at the height of the summer break.
Aslef announce they would refuse the extra shifts in another walkout
It comes as they started a week-long overtime ban on Monday – which the union warned will “seriously” affect services.
Drivers with Aslef union at 15 train operating companies will refuse to work overtime from Monday July 31 to Saturday August 5 in the long-running dispute over pay.
And because so many train firms rely on drivers working overtime as they don’t employ enough drivers – it means services will be at risk.
The action will affect Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; Cross Country; East Midlands Railway; Greater Anglia; Great Western Railway; GTR Great Northern Thameslink; Island Line; LNER; Northern Trains; Southeastern; Southern/Gatwick Express; South Western Railway main line; TransPennine Express; and West Midlands Trains.
It will be the fourth week-long ban on overtime since May.
In addition, the RMT will be striking on Thursday July 20, Saturday July 22 and Saturday July 29 – with little to no services at all expected then.
The boss of Aslef has warned of 20 years more strikes over a long-running pay dispute.
Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: “We don’t want to take this action.
“We don’t want people to be inconvenienced, but the blame lies with the train companies, and the Government which stands behind them, which refuse to sit down and talk to us, and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12 per cent.
“The proposal they made on April 26 of 4 per cent with a further rise dependent, in a naked land grab, on drivers giving up terms and conditions for which we have fought, and negotiated, for years was not designed to be accepted.
“We have not heard a word from the employers since then – not a meeting, not a phone call, not a text message, nor an email – for the last 12 weeks, and we haven’t sat down with the Government since January 6.”
Furious Mick Whelan slapped down the latest pay offer
