Train drivers have voted to accept a pay offer from UK train companies, ending a two-year industrial dispute over pay and conditions.
The ASLEF Union, which has around 20,000 members said it had accepted an offer that included a five per cent backdated pay rise for 2022-23, 4.75 per cent for 2023-24, and 4.5 per cent for 2024-25.
Its members voted by 96 per cent in favour of a deal, with a turnout of 84 per cent. The new offer also means there will be no changes to working conditions, a key part of the dispute between unions and rail companies.
General secretary Mick Whelan said: “It was not a fight we sought, or wanted. All we sought after five years without a pay rise, working for private companies who, throughout that period, declared millions of pounds in profits and dividends to shareholders, was a dent in the cost of living.”
Aslef in April rejected an offer of an eight per cent pay rise from the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators. That deal included a number of changes to working conditions.
Members of the RMT, which represents signalling staff, voted last November to accept a backdated pay rise of five per cent, ending their involvement in the industrial dispute.
Unions have been positive about Labour’s reform of UK railways, particularly the renationalisation of the country’s train companies.