Train drivers should vote no to the new pay deal

Mick Whelan, Aslef union general secretary (centre), on the picket line

The Aslef train drivers’ union announced on Wednesday that it had a new offer from the government to end the dispute that began over two years ago. Union leaders urged members to accept the deal in an upcoming ballot.

Right wing media has heralded the deal as a huge win for train drivers—the Times newspaper said that the “public sector gravy train is rolling again”.

But this is not the case. The proposed deal is 5 percent for 2022-23, 4.75 percent for 2023-24 and 4.5 percent for 2024-25. 

The RPI inflation figure, the most accurate one, was 11 percent for 2022-3, 8 percent for 2023-4 and is forecast to be around 3.5 percent for 2024-5.

So it’s obvious it’s a below-inflation offer overall. That’s enough to reject it.

But the union said repeatedly during the strikes, “When inflation goes up and pay doesn’t, that’s a real-terms pay cut. Train drivers haven’t had a pay increase since 2019. We are seeking a fair pay deal for our members who have been experiencing real terms pay cuts.”

So what about 2019-22? Add those years in, and workers need 30 percent just to keep up with inflation. The offer is about half that.

Aslef leaders called 18 strikes and long overtime bans over the last two years. These kept the dispute on track but were far too little to beat the rail companies and the government who acted in tandem.

Workers voted every six months to renew the strikes by huge majorities, showing their commitment to the struggle.

The union has frequently said that members want to go further than the leaders. The crucial issue is that, if union leaders had called an indefinite strike, there would have been a settlement well before 18 strike days had passed. 

What about conditions?

At the start of the strikes, the bosses wanted an all-out assault on working practices and to hugely worsen the lives of drivers.

For drivers, changes included allowing managers to drive trains—agreed scabbing—changes in technology used for training and “flexible” working changes including Sunday working without extra pay.

In April 2023, Aslef’s leadership rejected an offer of an 8 percent rise over two years from the previous government. In part that was because the deal was tied to the savage attacks on conditions.

These seem to have been dropped to make the deal more attractive—but don’t trust the companies not to resurrect some of them again.

Who is talking?

Under the Tories, negotiations involved the bosses’ organisation—the Rail Delivery Group. But government ministers had to approve any pay offer.

The Tories trampled on a pay rise while funnelling up to £1 billion to rail fat cats to compensate them for losses during strikes.

In December 2022 the Rail Delivery Group sent the initial pay offer to Aslef leader Mick Whelan ten minutes before it was briefed to the media.

“On the day before New Year’s Eve, Keith—Aslef’s press officer—rang me at 3.40 in the afternoon. He said, ‘The Mail, the Telegraph, the Sunday Express would like to know what you think of the deal’. Excuse me for a moment, what fucking deal?” Whelan recounted.

Details of the offer given to the media showed it involved two years of 4 percent pay “rises” in exchange for the acceptance of changed working practices. Aslef members had widely seen it before the union’s leaders met.

Whelan said, “We’ve got a building full of resolutions from the branches, ‘Don’t you dare ever sign anything like that, we’ll cut your throat,’ basically.”

Trade union leaders do not like being treated contemptuously. Whelan on Wednesday was full of praise for Labour’s approach.

“We finally have a new government—a Labour government—that listens and wants to make the railway work for staff, for passengers, and for the taxpayer.”

Union leaders will be happy to be treated as useful negotiating partners again.

But workers should reject real-terms pay cuts.