Rail companies, unions and rail minister Huw Merriman meet today after Aslef members were offered a new deal following last week’s strike action.
Alongside a backdated 4% pay rise, as well as 4% in the coming years, Friday's offer from National Rail’s Rail Delivery Group (RDG) would guarantee no forced redundancies until March 2024.
It would see Aslef agree to a Sunday commitment protocol, while also aiming to reduce training times for new drivers, allowing managers to drive trains on strike days and see staff moved between depots.
The deal would reform “outdated working practices” on the UK’s railways, said the RDG.
Aslef assistant boss Simon Weller suggested the union was yet to formally receive the offer on Saturday, however, suggesting it would “listen to what he (Huw Merriman) has to say” on Monday, but that the offer was “merely sleight of hand”.
Taxpayers are paying “up to an extra £175 million a month to make up the shortfall in revenue post-covid,” said RDG chairman Steve Montgomery.
Outlining the need for reform, Montgomery added: “These changes are also vital for us to be able to fund the pay rise our people deserve.”
“We urge Aslef to work with us to bring an end to the dispute for our people, our passengers and the future of Britain’s railways.”
Drivers from Aslef union walked out on Thursday last week as part of their dispute over pay and conditions, coinciding with action by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers which saw strikes disrupt services from Tuesday to Saturday.