ASLEF - LNER drivers to strike every Sat & Sun for 3 months from 31 Aug - Now called off

[sigma421]

This sounds potentially very messy

ASLEF: DRIVERS STRIKE AT LNER | ASLEF

ASLEF: DRIVERS STRIKE AT LNER EVERY WEEKEND THROUGHOUT SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, AND NOVEMBER

aslef.org.uk

From ASLEF

Train drivers at LNER, the train company which runs the passenger service on the East Coast main line between London and Edinburgh, will walk out on strike on every Saturday between 31 August and 9 November [inclusive] and on every Sunday from 1 September to 10 November [inclusive].
This follows a breakdown in industrial relations, bullying by management, and persistent breaking of agreements by the company.
It is an entirely separate dispute from the national pay dispute, with 16 train companies, which was, we hope, resolved on Wednesday when we received a pay offer from the DfT which is being put to 13,000 members with a recommendation to accept.
‘The bottom line is that LNER does not employ enough drivers to deliver the services it has promised passengers, and the government, it will run. This TOC’s legacy of under-established depots means it has always relied on favours and goodwill and, when that evaporated, they started to try to bully our members, and then to break out agreements.

 

[Horizon22]

Some interesting quotes.

There's evidently some genuine grievances but the "scabbing" comment (especially if they're not in ASLEF!) and attacking what I presume are fully competent driver managers and their salaries does nobody any favours and looks petty.

resolve long-standing industrial relations issues has forced us into this position. We would much rather not be here. But the company has brutally, and repeatedly, broken diagramming and roster agreements, failed to adhere to the agreed bargaining machinery, and totally acted in bad faith. When we make an agreement, we stick to it. This company doesn’t. And we are not prepared to put up with their boorish behaviour and bullying tactics.’

Nigel Roebuck, ASLEF’s full-time officer in the north-east of England, who leads on negotiations with LNER, said: ‘This dispute started nigh-on two years ago with our members complaining about consistently being badgered for “favours” by managers outside of rostering agreements and being contacted remotely which is also against our agreements.

‘The bottom line is that LNER does not employ enough drivers to deliver the services it has promised passengers, and the government, it will run. This TOC’s legacy of under-established depots means it has always relied on favours and goodwill and, when that evaporated, they started to try to bully our members, and then to break out agreements.

‘They chose to put managers into our positions, first during strike days, and then it escalated into every day, including periods of ASOS. Unfortunately, whilst the manager numbers driving covered service gaps, LNER without a rest day working agreement with ASLEF has seen daily cancellations some days in high volume.

‘These managers who were, on strike days, scabbing, were paid a bounty of £500 per shift if it was their rest day or £175 for a normal working day – that’s on top of their salaries for their substantive roles of between £82,000 and £96,000 or 96k – all sanctioned by the Tory government and the DfT who were telling us, at ASLEF, that there was no money for a proper pay rise!’

ASLEF has questioned the safety aspect of these managers ‘dual roleing’, as it hs left serious gaps in on-call duties which impacts the chain of care for our members should an incident occur. The ORR is investigating these issues.

Not to mention that ironically going on strike will mean managers are once again out driving trains, one of the very things they are complaining about!

Other companies - such as Greater Anglia as one key example - had managers driving trains on ASLEF strike days for a skeleton (but reliable) service with what appears to be no drama.

 

[AJW12]

Three months worth - this is absolutely insane. Still, least the new government will fix all this by renationalising the rai... oh wait, this operator has been publicly owned for six years!

 

[Horizon22]

Three months worth - this is absolutely insane. Still, least the new government will fix all this by renationalising the rai... oh wait, this operator has been publicly owned for six years!

I highly doubt it will go on for that long; people will get chatting especially as this is all around internal processes, policies and management standards which is much easier to resolve.

 

[Jan Mayen]

On the bright side, the advance notice means I can re-plan my September All-Line rover to make sure I exclude LNER at the weekends

 

[Andyh82]

So when everyone was celebrating that the strikes were over in the pay deal thread, in reality the unions will just find other issues to strike about?

Are we likely to see the unions go around the TOCs one by one finding disagreements to strike over?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

If LNER is Aslef's public enemy No 1, at least Avanti can take a breather.
As LNER is surely the template for GBR, it does not bode well for the future.
I'm afraid I am reminded of Ted Heath's problem with the electricity workers: Who Governs Britain?
That didn't turn out well for anybody.

 

[MikeWM]

Whatever the rights or wrongs of this, did no-one consider that doing this just a few days after announcing a pay deal and 'an end to strikes' is a total PR disaster? This sort of thing is utterly awful for the image of the railway in the eyes of the general public.

 

[185]

Perhaps it's time for OLR to eject the senior management team. Another TOC pushed the MD and the HR director out of the fire escape at the start of a very avoidable strike. Perhaps David Horne's time is up, together with their entire leadership team - many including Horne inherited from the previous failed operator.

 

[mpthomson]

Whatever the rights or wrongs of this, did no-one consider that doing this just a few days after announcing a pay deal and 'an end to strikes' is a total PR disaster? This sort of thing is utterly awful for the image of the railway in the eyes of the general public.

Indeed, the optics are awful, however justifiable the pay rises are.

 

[Confused52]

Perhaps it's time for OLR to also OLR the senior management team. Another TOC pushed the MD and the HR director out of the fire escape at the start of an avoidable strike. Perhaps David Horne's time is up, together with their entire leadership team - many including Horne inherited from the previous failed operator.

The common element is always Aslef.

 

[mrmartin]

Surely it would have been better to get some agreement on rest day working as part of the pay rise (even if that was a higher pay rise)? This is going to be a major source of contention now - at best just a lot of sunday cancellations, at worse bad industrial relation problems like we see here?

I don't know how viable that would be, but seems incredibly short sighted to me.

I agree this is a dire reflection of what GBR is likely to end up with.

 

[Starmill]

Whatever the rights or wrongs of this, did no-one consider that doing this just a few days after announcing a pay deal and 'an end to strikes' is a total PR disaster? This sort of thing is utterly awful for the image of the railway in the eyes of the general public.

Presumably that's intentional...

 

[AJW12]

The common element is always Aslef.

"Nigel Roebuck, who has led Aslef's negotiations with LNER, said members had complained about being consistently "badgered for favours" by managers "outside of rostering agreements and being contacted remotely"."
(Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj9le7vdw91o)

Being asked for favours is an excuse for industrial action?! I would *love* to see them spend a week in an ordinary private sector job.

 

[Starmill]

Surely it would have been better to get some agreement on rest day working as part of the pay rise (even if that was a higher pay rise)?

Firstly, a higher pay rise just for LNER drivers is absolutely not going to happen. Can you imagine the reaction of the drivers at the other thirteen companies who are likely to settle very shortly?

Secondly, the incredibly ugly accusations against LNER management imply that this is at least a bit about personality, not just the technical rest day work aspects.

 

[norbitonflyer]

the "scabbing" comment (especially if they're not in ASLEF!)

A strikebreaker or "scab" is anyone brought in to replace a striking workforce. They are usually non-union members and often, for unskilled jobs, not regular employees but hired in for the duration.

 

[OneOfThe48]

What’s the objection to driver managers driving services?

I don’t think it’s ideal if they’re regularly relying on it, but you’d have thought they’d like it as it meant the managers knew what it was like driving trains and didn’t become detached from reality etc

 

[norbitonflyer]

Being asked for favours is an excuse for industrial action?!

"badgered" was the word used, suggesting harrassment or bullying, rather than just asking politely, and accepting "no" for an answer.

 

[Starmill]

Perhaps it's time for OLR to eject the senior management team. Another TOC pushed the MD and the HR director out of the fire escape at the start of a very avoidable strike. Perhaps David Horne's time is up, together with their entire leadership team - many including Horne inherited from the previous failed operator.

I think Mr Horne's personal record of failure upon failure means the only option for him is to go now. Ultimately it doesn't matter what the business trading conditions were, if you're c-suite and this many years of failure comes up on your watch, it's your responsibility.

 

[thealexweb]

What a week to announce this. They’ll be many pushing for the new pay deal to be pulled now. Maybe not related by terrible optics.

 

[Starmill]

"badgered" was the word used, suggesting harrassment or bullying, rather than just asking politely, and accepting "no" for an answer.

Asking for extra-contractual work again and again, after being told no, isn't just the height of bad workplace manners, it may soon be made unlawful.

 

[railfan99]

Whatever the rights or wrongs of this, did no-one consider that doing this just a few days after announcing a pay deal and 'an end to strikes' is a total PR disaster? This sort of thing is utterly awful for the image of the railway in the eyes of the general public.

True, and not great for 'Team GB's' international image.

 

[Blackpool boy]

"Nigel Roebuck, who has led Aslef's negotiations with LNER, said members had complained about being consistently "badgered for favours" by managers "outside of rostering agreements and being contacted remotely"."
(Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj9le7vdw91o)

Being asked for favours is an excuse for industrial action?! I would *love* to see them spend a week in an ordinary private sector job.

No one in any role in any business should be badgered outside of working hours to work extra shifts. Its not the employees fault that a business doesn't recruit enough staff to cover for the unexpected. asking whilst in work is fine but once someone says no they should not be 'badgered' until they give in

 

[185]

The common element is always Aslef.

...according to the Daily Mail, Express (and other similar papers such as Cushelle and Asda Shades 3-ply).

This strike needs avoiding.

The Tory 'lets kick off with the unions' attitude was voted out on the 4th of July. It should never be a free-for-all for the unions, but the pay deals offered in the last few years, way below RPI certainly gave weight to the unions argument. It would be interesting to see what the sticking point was which caused Aslef to walk out.

 

[whoosh]

So when everyone was celebrating that the strikes were over in the pay deal thread, in reality the unions will just find other issues to strike about?

Are we likely to see the unions go around the TOCs one by one finding disagreements to strike over?

Indeed, the optics are awful, however justifiable the pay rises are.

These 'other issues' are long standing. There has been a Rest Day Working ban at LNER because agreements haven't been adhered to for about the past two years. This is not a new disagreement, and the pay rise now on the table is, and has been, a separate issue - and been balloted separately for the last two years.

To get around drivers not working rest days, Driver Managers have worked driving shifts at £500 a time (which is more than RDW rate is at LNER.)

The common element is always Aslef.

The common element is railway management refusing to sit down and talk.

What’s the objection to driver managers driving services?

I don’t think it’s ideal if they’re regularly relying on it, but you’d have thought they’d like it as it meant the managers knew what it was like driving trains and didn’t become detached from reality etc

If there is no agreement for managers to drive trains, then managers working trains is also yet another example of the company not adhering to agreements.

 

[Class 317]

Surely calling or messaging employees to ask if they are available to work overtime outside of their contracted hours should not be a reason for months of strike action. That's been a reasonable and accepted practice in many industries for years and indeed I know many who are pleased with receiving the overtime that results.

If individual managers are repeating calling and messaging an individual on their own time who has already said no or stated that they do not wish to be contacted then that should be resolved via HR as a harressment case. If not successfully resolved at this level then ASLEF should surely be supporting it's members to take it to an employment tribunal if employment laws are being broken.

However what this really shows is that the relationship between managers and staff has completely broken down. In my experience when this has happened at places I have worked it's normally partially the fault of both sides. Calling managers Scabs is not likely to help rebuild these relationships especially as they are only doing their job as well.

If managers are appropriately trained to drive trains on the routes concerned I can't see any legitimate reason to strike over them doing so. If the ORR assesses that insufficient cover is available to drivers should an incident occur than surely ORR should be allowed to take the appropriate enforcement actions. If not I don't think it's then legitimate for ASLEF to strike if ORR decides their is no safety risk to try to overturn that decision.

As others have said the optics on this one are very bad because of the timings being incredibly poor. It's likely to turn public opinion against drivers not just at LNER but in general which may make it harder to negotiate future pay disputes.

 

[Thirteen]

Louise Haigh will probably be at LNER's HQ ASAP to knock a few heads together to get this sorted.

 

[island]

If there is no agreement for managers to drive trains, then managers working trains is also yet another example of the company not adhering to agreements.

In no other industry does anyone need an "agreement" for managers to do work of a lower grade. If the managers are willing and able to do it, then it isn't anybody else's business. If the managers are not so willing or able, then that's a dispute between managers and their managers.

 

[MotCO]

Has a vote been taken for this new industrial action, or is it covered by the existing vote? If the original vote was just for a pay rise, given that that has been settled, do they not need a new vote?
Or if the original vote was for pay and other things, why did the government not make the 'other things' part if the pay settlement?

 

[whoosh]

Has a vote been taken for this new industrial action, or is it covered by the existing vote? If the original vote was just for a pay rise, given that that has been settled, do they not need a new vote?
Or if the original vote was for pay and other things, why did the government not make the 'other things' part if the pay settlement?

It is covered by a separate ballot for industrial action, and has been covered by a separate ballot for industrial action for the period there has been a dispute over this issue (for about the past two years).
This is not related to pay, and is and was and will be a separately balloted issue.

It's important to note, that this issue is not new, and is longstanding. There have been many, many cancellations of LNER trains over the past two years because of rest days not being worked continuously for that period, because of this issue.