Train drivers are offered a £5,000 pay rise if they agree to end their bitter ... trends now
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Train drivers were last night offered a pay rise worth an average of almost £5,000 to end their bitter dispute.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said it was offering a ‘landmark outline proposal’ that would deliver more reliable services for passengers, in exchange for a backdated pay increase of four per cent for 2022, followed by another 4 per cent this year.
In return, drivers would have to call off their strikes and commit to working Sunday shifts in their contracts. The RDG said the offer to the drivers’ union Aslef would see the salary for an experienced driver rise from an average £60,000 to almost £65,000.
The offer would also guarantee there will be no compulsory redundancies until at least the end of March next year.
A strike by drivers from the Aslef union outside Ramsgate station in Kent (file photo)
Steve Montgomery, chairman of the RDG, said: ‘This is a fair and affordable offer in challenging times, providing a significant uplift in salary for train drivers while bringing in common sense and long-overdue reforms that would drive up reliability for passengers.
‘With taxpayers still funding up to an extra £175million a month to make up the shortfall in revenue post-Covid, these changes are also vital for us to be able to fund the pay rise our people deserve. Instead of staging yet more damaging strike action and holding back changes that will improve services, 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.’
An Aslef spokesman said last night the union had not yet received the offer but would give it ‘due consideration’ ahead of a scheduled meeting with Transport Secretary Mark
