End in sight for the ASLEF dispute: Offer now made

[SCDR_WMR]

And with the backpay for 3 years as well. I am happy with this deal.

So is the tax man well done, excellent deal

 

[kourblimey]

Is this a pay rise for all TOC’s in equal measure?

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Is this a pay rise for all TOC’s in equal measure?

In percentage terms yes

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sounds positive. I'd be happy with that.

 

[najaB]

It's way more than I've received over the last three years, that's for sure.

(Completely different industry, FWIW).

 

[AverageJoe]

Never understand why drivers come on here and share personal financial information.

If you are in the need to know then you will get a text or email.

 

[SWFreight]

Finally, some good news!

 

[dk1]

Never doubted we’d succeed in the end and even better than I expected. Happy days indeed

 

[irish_rail]

Never understand why drivers come on here and share personal financial information.

If you are in the need to know then you will get a text or email.

It'll soon be all over the press anyway. Not sure what the issue is?

 

[Sly Old Fox]

How much more taxpayer’s money does this failing industry need?

 

[PLY2AYS]

It'll soon be all over the press anyway. Not sure what the issue is?

Agreed. It’ll be in the press tomorrow or later tonight… it’s hardly personal.

Phenomenal test of solidarity. Common sense and patience prevailed.

Now for all the other issues to deal with on the railway that the TOCs have been avoiding under the guise of “we’re in dispute”

 

[scrapy]

Works out as a at 14.93% rise on current rates taking compound interest into account.

Given that 2022 was the same in percentage terms that RMT grades got, I'm expecting the same offer be given to RMT for 2023 and 2024 (4.75 and 4.5% no strings, possibly a bit more for lowest paid) and hopefully will end dispute with both unions.

 

[ainsworth74]

Peace in our time! Hopefully it ends better though than the original usage of that phrase

 

[najaB]

How much more taxpayer’s money does this failing industry need?

It's only "failing" if you don't consider public transportation to be a societal good.

 

[Samtrains457]

How much more taxpayer’s money does this failing industry need?

Lol so railway staff should not get any pay rises indefinitely then because it isn’t run effectively?

Remember the way it’s ran and it’s cost to the tax payer has nothing to do with the people at the bottom standing on a platform, dispatching trains, sitting in a signal box or driving the trains

 

[winks]

Other railway grades to receive their offers next week. (NR / TOCS etc)

 

[AverageJoe]

It'll soon be all over the press anyway. Not sure what the issue is?

Not even had time to get to the press before the drivers rush on here and post it.

If it gets leaked it gets leaked but why drivers themselves would come and share it with Joe bloggs I don’t know.

 

[najaB]

Other railway grades to receive their offers next week. (NR / TOCS etc)

Hopefully they are similar and will be accepted so that things can start getting back to normal.

 

[irish_rail]

How much more taxpayer’s money does this failing industry need?

Will pay for itself pretty quickly as now the industry can focus on growing and selling itself. Passenger confidence will start to return as strikes will no longer threaten that weekend break or whatever.

 

[jfollows]

Not even had time to get to the press before the drivers rush on here and post it.

If it gets leaked it gets leaked but why drivers themselves would come and share it with Joe bloggs I don’t know.

The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...uld-end-rail-strikes-after-two-years-of-chaos):

The drivers’ union Aslef said on Wednesday a deal had been agreed in principle with the Department for Transport (DfT) that would result in a pay rise of 5% for 2022-23, 4.75% for 2023-24 and 4.5% for 2024-25 – all backdated and pensionable.

 

[dk1]

Not even had time to get to the press before the drivers rush on here and post it.

If it gets leaked it gets leaked but why drivers themselves would come and share it with Joe bloggs I don’t know.

Probably because it’s been an unexpectedly long slog. No need to worry as the press have it and BBC already posting online and now the leading headlines on the 7pm news.

 

[OneOfThe48]

Not even had time to get to the press before the drivers rush on here and post it.

If it gets leaked it gets leaked but why drivers themselves would come and share it with Joe bloggs I don’t know.

I think like everyone else who posts on this forum, they like to talk about the railway

Plus if they didn't, us peasants wouldn't have anything to talk about

 

[Benjwri]

It's only "failing" if you don't consider public transportation to be a societal good.

A point that gets lost all too often. Maybe some day people and the government will accept not everything needs to make a profit. It is odd how we accept tax to pay for some things, but not others.

 

[brad465]

On the BBC now:

Train strikes near end as train drivers' union Aslef secures deal

The proposed offer has "no-strings" and sees a backdated pay rise and increases in future for drivers.

www.bbc.co.uk

Train drivers will vote on a new deal aimed at ending the long-running strike action, the Aslef union has announced.
Talks between representatives from Aslef and the Department for Transport are aiming to resolve the pay dispute between drivers and train companies in England.
Full details are yet to be confirmed but the pay offer is expected to be more generous than what was on the table last year, which included 4% rises for the next two years.
Aslef said the new deal was a "no-strings" offer, meaning it’s not conditional on changes to working practices.
Aslef union leader Mick Whelan said the proposed deal could end the long running train drivers’ dispute if members accept it in a vote.
The union represents drivers on lines including Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and the Gatwick Express.
A breakthrough would herald the end of industrial action which has spanned more than two years and saw drivers stage 18 strikes and take part in several overtime bans, leading to cancelled services.
Under the new Labour government, senior officials began direct pay talks with Aslef bosses last month.
The meeting with Aslef at the Department for Transport was "adjourned temporarily" on Wednesday morning, union general secretary Mick Whelan said as he left the building.
When asked by a reporter if there was a new offer, he said: "Not at this moment in time.”
Industrial action has continued since Aslef last rejected a pay offer back in April 2023. More recently the union’s tactic has been to spread walk-outs over several days, with different operators affected on each day.
The package included successive pay rises of 4%, which the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train companies, said would bring the average annual pay for a driver to £65,000.
However, a significant point of contention, was the conditions attached.
Train companies and the Conservative government argued that changes to ways of working, for example to training and rosters, were necessary to make the railway function more reliably and save money.
They claimed hard-pressed taxpayers are having to contribute millions each week to keep services running.
However, Aslef argued drivers were being asked to sacrifice too much in exchange for too low a wage rise.
The dispute was at a standstill for a year, before signs of progress in May. But the general election was called before there could be a resolution.
Under the previous government, negotiations were conducted by the Rail Delivery Group, but ministers have had to approve any pay offer though, as the government in effect took control of the railway during the Covid pandemic.
When the Labour government was elected in July, transport secretary Louise Haigh said she was "committed to resetting industrial relations".
The Rail Delivery Group has since been removed from negotiations, with Department for Transport officials leading talks instead in July.
In a separate dispute, train drivers working for publicly-run Scotrail are currently being balloted for strike action over pay.

(Well, the vote aspect is and the fact the deal is improved, they haven't put the fine details on yet)

 

[Tractor2018]

A point that gets lost all too often.

The government of the day, via the media, likes to condition voters to numbers in the "subsidy". There's never any talk of, amongst other things, the benefit of the railway to the economy - this making the so called subsidy actually an investment.......and who doesn't like free money.

Maybe if the government instead said we'll do away with this huge subsidy by closing the railway, but net loss on the economy has to be replaced by increasing everyone's tax liability - that might focus some minds differently.

 

[A0]

Lol so railway staff should not get any pay rises indefinitely then because it isn’t run effectively?

Well, in any normal company in the private sector that's exactly what would happen. No profit = no money for pay rises.

Remember the way it’s ran and it’s cost to the tax payer has nothing to do with the people at the bottom standing on a platform, dispatching trains, sitting in a signal box or driving the trains

That's a very lazy argument. *Every* employee of a company has an impact on its productivity, income and success - however small. Simply blaming "poor management" ignores the role that frontline workers have, but it doesn't support the narrative of the unions to acknowledge this.

 

[GardenRail]

How much more taxpayer’s money does this failing industry need?

It's not failing though, is it. Your post seems very bitter, with a hint of jealousy.

Never sure why the overwhelming opinions seem to be that Railway Workers should come down to everyone else's conditions and pay, rather than everyone else try making theirs better too. Oh well.

 

[DJP78]

hallelujah! Congrats to all ASLEF members and the senior negotiators. Patently obvious they were up against political vandals that were the Tories.

Calm now prevails and the grownups are in charge again

 

[dk1]

A point that gets lost all too often. Maybe some day people and the government will accept not everything needs to make a profit. It is odd how we accept tax to pay for some things, but not others.

Railways as a whole never make a profit. They are not expected to.

 

[66701GBRF]

If you are in the need to know then you will get a text or email.

Not necessarily.