Train drivers have been offered a 4% pay rise for two years by the rail delivery group in an effort to end the current dispute which saw drivers walking out yesterday
The offer of an increase of 4 plus 4 percent over two years covering the 2022 and 2023 pay awards, backdated to the relevant pay anniversary.
I’m It also includes a commitment to no compulsory redundancies until at least 31 March 2024.
If accepted, the proposal would mean the base salary for the average driver would increase from £60,000, to almost £65,000 by the end of 2023.
Proposed changes include a Sunday Commitment Protocol, whereby drivers who are rostered to work a Sunday shift are contractually committed to doing so, unless alternative cover can be found.
The change says the rail body is vital in a post-covid world which has seen leisure travel – currently at 116% of pre-covid levels on Sundays – recover far more strongly than commuter and business travel.
Steve Montgomery, chair of the Rail Delivery Group, 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 and allow the railway to adapt to changed travel patterns.
“With taxpayers still funding up to an extra £175 million 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.”
