Train services are to be hit by another one-day strike as drivers walk out again in an ongoing dispute over pay.
Members of the Aslef union at 12 companies will take industrial action on Thursday, September 15, the union confirmed on Wednesday.
It comes after the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) confirmed members at nine train operating companies including Network Rail will also walk out on Monday, September 26.
The Aslef dispute is expected to mainly impact cross-border services next month for Scottish travellers.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, said: “We regret that, once again, passengers are going to be inconvenienced, because we don’t want to go on strike – withdrawing our labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for a trade union – but the train companies have forced our hand.
“They want train drivers to take a real-terms pay cut – to work just as hard this year as last, but for 10% less.
“Because inflation is now in double figures and heading higher – much higher, according to some forecasts – and yet the train companies have offered us nothing.
“And this for train drivers who kept Britain moving – key workers and goods around the country – throughout the pandemic and who have not had an increase in salary since 2019.
“We want the companies, which are making big profits, and paying their chief executives enormous salaries and bonuses, to make a proper pay offer to help our members keep up with the increase in the cost of living.
“That’s why we are calling on the companies today to do the right thing, the decent thing, and come back to the negotiating table with an offer our members can accept.”
The twelve companies involved in the dispute are as follows: Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; CrossCountry; Greater Anglia; Great Western Railway; Hull Trains; LNER; London Overground; Northern Trains; Southeastern; TransPennine Express; and West Midlands Trains.
Members already staged two 24-hour strikes in July and August.
Aslef pointed out that this year it has successfully concluded pay deals with nine companies: DB Cargo; Eurostar; Freightliner Heavy Haul; Freightliner Intermodal; GB Railfreight; Merseyrail; MTR Elizabeth line; PRE Metro Operations; and ScotRail and has multi-year deals in place with several other companies.
Negotiations are being held with Direct Rail Services and Transport for Wales.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “For the ninth time this summer, union leaders are choosing self-defeating strike action over constructive talks, not only disrupting the lives of millions who rely on these services but jeopardising the future of the railways and their own members’ livelihoods.
“These reforms deliver the modernisations our rail network urgently needs, are essential to the future of rail, and will happen; strikes will not change this.”
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