Big win for ASLEF after two-year pay dispute

The national pay dispute saw drivers from 16 different train companies taking 18 days of strike action between July 2022 and May 2024, as well as stopping working on rest days. 

After two years of a Conservative government refusing to negotiate seriously with ASLEF on pay, the dispute was finally resolved when Labour made the train drivers an offer of 5% for 2022 to 2023, 4.75% for 2023 to 2024, and 4.5% for 2024 to 2025.  

A huge majority (96.6%) of train drivers across England, Wales and Scotland voted in favour of the deal. 

ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan talked the TUC’s Solidarity Hub through the dispute. 

Pay negotiations begin 

Mick told the TUC: “Back in 2022, we went into the pay negotiations with government in good faith. 

“The vast majority of our drivers had worked throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and hadn’t pushed for a pay rise since 2019. They deserved a fair deal. 

“But the Tory government sat on their hands and refused to talk to us. 

“And when they did have an offer for us, we only found out about it by reading it in the press. 

“At first, Conservative ministers insisted that the companies could only offer us 2%. They then raised that to 4% but as part of that they wanted to destroy the terms and conditions we’d spent 144 years negotiating. 

“They wanted to rip up our local agreements and introduce different scales of train drivers and so on. 

“We are proud that there’s no division in our industry and that we don’t have a gender pay gap. We always say, ‘a driver is a driver is a driver’ and they should all be treated the same. 

“We weren’t going to let their divide and rule tactic work.” 

Ballot for strike action 

ASLEF first balloted members for strike action in June 2022 and renewed the mandates for strike action – and action short of a strike – every six months. 

The first strike was held in July 2022, followed by regular walkouts and rolling weeks of action until just before the general election. 

Around 13,000 drivers took 18 days of strike action and refused to work non-contractual overtime at 16 companies (Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, C2C, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Northern Thameslink, Great Western Railway, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway and Island Line, TransPennine Express, and West Midlands Trains). 

Mick told the Solidarity Hub that his members didn’t need much motivating as they were energised for action. He said: “Members were really motivated to take action and push for better pay. 

“Drivers hadn’t had a pay rise for years. Inflation was starting to bite – it got up to 13.8% at one point – and the cost-of-living crisis was hitting members hard.” 

During the dispute, Mick went to three or four branch meetings a week, to talk to members and keep them updated about the dispute, and to listen to them to see how they were feeling. 

As well as Mick and fellow members of the executive committee and officers going to meetings, ASLEF used a variety of ways to keep in touch with their members through the campaign. 

Mick told the TUC: “We tried the peer-to-peer texting tool. I think at first people weren’t sure about the texts and whether they were genuine, or if someone was trying to sell them something! But it worked well having workers talking to workers throughout the dispute. 

“We used all the channels open to us to communicate with our members and keep up morale and motivation – we went to meetings and to picket lines, wrote blogs and emails, had articles in our monthly journal and published circulars.” 

Picket lines and stunts 

Mick was joined by TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak at some of the picket lines. He said: “It was great to see Paul there, showing the TUC was right behind us. We were enthused by the support of the whole movement. 

“The atmosphere on the picket lines was always upbeat. It wasn’t unusual to go down to a picket line and see 90% of the depot there. 

“Drivers would be playing music – one even brought his campervan to a picket line! And there was plenty of public support for us on the picket lines.” 

ASLEF organised a few stunts along the way to keep the momentum going in the campaign. Mick said: “We knew we were in it for the long haul, so we organised a few stunts to keep things going. 

“When we’d had 13 months of no contact from Mark Harper MP, who was then the Secretary of State for Transport, we ran a ‘Where’s Wally Harper?’ campaign and had a life size cut out of him on the picket line. 

“We also printed t-shirts with slogans ‘See it. Say It. Picket’ along the lines of the ‘See it. Say it. Sorted’ posters you see at stations. They went down well.” 

Strategic strike action 

Mick told the Solidarity Hub that ASLEF made a strategic decision to take strike action around once a month, rather than on back-to-back days. 

Mick said: “We wanted to keep the pressure on government – but we also wanted to keep our members economically safe through the dispute. 

“So, we only took strike action around once a month. There were 18 one-day strikes during the two years. 

“Some people asked us why we didn’t go for, say, two weeks of continuous strike action. But we knew that would hit our members hard financially. 

“And we also didn’t want to lose the support we had from the public as the Tories were – unsuccessfully – trying to turn the public tide against us. 

“We know strike action causes disruption to train passengers which is regrettable, so we wanted to keep the action targeted to the one-day strikes.” 

Dispute resolution 

The dispute was finally resolved when the Labour gave the drivers a no-strings offer for 5% for 2022 to 2023, 4.75% for 2023 to 2024, and 4.5% for 2024 to 2025. 

When compounded, this works out at 15% and is backdated and pensionable – and includes drivers who retired or left the industry during the dispute. 

The result of the three-week ballot – which ran from Wednesday 28 August through to Wednesday 18 September – was: Yes, 10,971 (96.6%), No, 389 (3.4%). Turnout was 11,365 (88.5%). 

Mick was pleased with the result. He said: “It just shows what can be done when the grown-ups come into the room. 

“The offer is a good offer – a fair offer – and it is what we had always asked for, a clean offer – without a land grab for our terms and conditions that the previous government tried to take.” 

Mick concluded: “We’re all upbeat now after the result. It was a real team effort, and I’d like to pay tribute to our members. Their strength, resilience and determination has paid off. 

“This wasn't a fight we sought out or wanted. All we were asking for, after five years without a pay rise, was a fair offer that would make a dent in the cost of living. 

“And that’s what we’ve got. 

“Now we can get back to our day job of seeking a green, well-invested, vertically integrated, and safe public railway.”