The
train
drivers’
union
ASLEF


has
called
a
new
24-hour
strike
in
England
on
1
September,
with
an
overtime
ban
on
the
following
day.

The
action
has
been
announced
in
addition
to
walkouts
by
the
RMT
between
tomorrow
and
early
September.

The
operators
affected
are
Avanti
West
Coast,
Chiltern
Railways,
c2c,
CrossCountry,
East
Midlands
Railway,
Govia
Thameslink
Railway,
Greater
Anglia,
Great
Western
Railway,
LNER,
Northern,
Southeastern,
South
Western
Railway,
TransPennine
Express
and
West
Midlands
Trains.

ASLEF’s
general
secretary
Mick
Whelan
said:
‘We
don’t
want
to
take
this
action
but
the
train
companies,
and
the
government
which
stands
behind
them,
have
forced
us
into
this
place
because
they
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
government
appears
happy
to
let
passengers
and
businesses
suffer
in
the
mistaken
belief
that
they
can
bully
us
into
submission.
They
don’t
care
about
passengers
or
Britain’s
railway,
but
they
will
not
break
us.’

The
Rail
Delivery
Group
has
dubbed
the
further
action
‘unnecessary’.
It
continued:
‘The
union
leadership
has
its
head
in
the
sand
and
refuses
to
put
our
fair
and
reasonable
offer
to
members.’