ASLEF


is
putting
a
new
pay
offer
to
its
members,
with
a
recommendation
that
they
accept
it.

As
reported
in
Railnews
yesterday,
the
drivers’
union
took
part
in
fresh
talks
at
the
Department
for
Transport,
after
an
earlier
meeting
had
been
described
as
‘constructive’
by
both
sides.

The
union
said
it
had
been
offered
a
’no-strings
three-phase’
series
of
pensionable
rises,
backdated
where
appropriate,
consisting
of
5
percent
for
2022-23;
4.75
per
cent
for
2023-24
and
4.5
per
cent
for
2024-25. 

General
secretary
Mick
Whelan
had
been
accompanied
at
yesterday’s
talks
by
assistant
general
secretary
Simon
Weller
and
executive
committee
president
Dave
Calfe.
Mr
Whelan
said:
‘We
are
pleased
that
after
being
treated
with
utter
contempt
for
the
last
two
years
by
the
privatised
train
companies,
and
the
previous
government
that
was
pulling
their
strings,
we
finally
have
a
new
government
–
a
Labour
government
–
that
listens
and
wants
to
make
the
railway
work
for
staff,
for
passengers,
and
for
the
taxpayer.

‘The
offer
is
a
good
offer
–
a
fair
offer
–
and
it
is
what
we
have
always
asked
for,
a
clean
offer,
without
a
land
grab
for
our
terms
and
conditions
that
the
companies,
and
previous
government,
tried
to
take
in
April
last
year.

‘We
will
put
it
to
members
with
a
recommendation
for
them
to
accept.’

He
continued:
‘We
have
achieved
more
in
the
last
four
weeks
of
a
Labour
government
than
we
managed
under
a
Tory
government
that
set
out
to
destroy
us
–
first
by
refusing
to
meet
us,
then
by
insisting
the
companies
could
only
offer
us
2
per
cent,
then
by
offering
us
4
per
cent
but
with
a
land
grab
for
all
the
T&Cs
we
have
spent
144
years
negotiating
with
productivity
and
sweat.

‘We
have
gone
from
people
behaving
dishonestly
and
deceitfully
and
trying
to
rip
up
all
our
T&Cs
to
a
group
of
people
who
seem
to
understand
the
interests
of
rail
workers,
the
travelling
public,
and
the
taxpayer.’

If
ASLEF
members
vote
to
accept
the
offer,
it
will
bring
to
an
end
a
series
of
18
days
of
strikes
which
began
in
July
2022.
Of
these,
14
were
national
and
four
were
‘staggered’
between
different
operators.
There
were
also
12
bans
on
rest
day
working,
most
of
which
lasted
several
days.

Transport
secretary
Louise
Haigh
has
welcomed
the
outcome
of
yesterday’s
talks,
saying:
‘When
I
took
this
job,
I
said
I
wanted
to
move
fast
and
fix
things
–
starting
by
bringing
an
end
to
rail
strikes.

‘The
Conservatives
were
happy
to
see
the
taxpayer
pay
the
price
as
strikes
dragged
on
and
on,
and
passengers
suffered.
This
Labour
government
is
doing
the
right
thing
and
putting
passengers
first.

‘If
accepted,
this
offer
would
finally
bring
an
end
to
this
long-running
dispute,
and
allow
us
to
move
forward
by
driving
up
performance
for
passengers
with
the
biggest
overhaul
to
our
railways
in
a
generation.’

There
has
been
no
comment
from
the
Rail
Delivery
Group,
which
did
not
take
part
in
the
talks.