Aslef drivers at 12 train firms go on strike on 15 September

theguardian.com:

Train drivers will go on strike again next month in an escalation of the long-running dispute over pay and conditions on the railway, with a 24-hour strike at 12 companies that will stop many services across Great Britain.

The action by the Aslef union on 15 September will bring to a standstill the main intercity routes from London to the Midlands, the of north England, and Scotland and Wales, as well as commuter services in the south-east, Midlands and north, and the London Overground.

Aslef said it regretted disrupting passengers but that drivers could not accept a further pay freeze, after no increase in salary since 2019.

Drivers at three more train companies – Chiltern Railways, Northern and TransPennine Express – have now joined the strike, after ballots were rerun over technicalities. After two other coordinated strikes by Aslef in July and August, the stoppage in September is likely to be its most disruptive to date.

The other affected services will be Avanti west coast, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground and Southeastern, and West Midlands Trains.

Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, said: “We regret that, once again, passengers are going to be inconvenienced. 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.”

With inflation now in double figures, Whelan said, “They want train drivers to take a real terms pay cut — to work just as hard this year as last, but for 10% less. “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