T
rain drivers are placing on the beginning and finish dates of the Conservative Party convention for industrial, not political, causes, Aslef basic secretary Mick Whelan has stated.
Members of the drivers’ union Aslef at 16 prepare operators in England are on strike on Saturday, after which once more on Wednesday, coinciding with the beginning and finish of the annual autumn Tory convention in Manchester.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper instructed Sky News drivers had been participating in a “political strike” geared toward disrupting the convention.
Mr Whelan joined rail staff on a picket line at London Euston station on Saturday morning, alongside a cardboard mannequin of Mr Harper mocked up as the principle character from the Where’s Wally? youngsters’s books.
Speaking to the PA news company, Mr Whelan stated: “We’ve targeted the Tory Party conference, the start date and the finish date of it, not for political reasons but for industrial reasons.
“To say to Mr Harper: we haven’t seen you since last December.
“Where’s Harper? Where’s Wally? That’s the theme today.”
In a press release from the union, Mr Whelan added: “Those who have, falsely, accused us of targeting events in the past, to hide their own shortcomings, and bad faith, have inspired us to take action on these days (during the Tory Party conference).”
He stated Aslef members are “in it for the long haul” and that industrial motion “isn’t about a general secretary or a union executive committee”.
“It’s about our members,” Mr Whelan stated.
“We will keep on striking to make the voice of our members heard.”
Aslef additionally staged strikes disrupting journey to the the Tory Party convention final 12 months.
But Mr Harper instructed Sky News: “The strike this weekend, people can see that it is timed to coincide with the Conservative Party conference, so it is very much a political strike called by the general secretary of Aslef, who sits on the Labour Party’s national executive committee.”
The Conservative Cabinet minister stated he had put a “fair and reasonable” pay supply, together with “essential” rail reforms, to Aslef throughout pay negotiations.
He continued: “An average salary of a train driver today is £60,000 for a 35-hour, four-day week.
“The pay offer that is on the table, if it was accepted, would take that to a £65,000-a-year salary for a four-day, 35-hour week, I think most people would think that is quite reasonable.
“My message is to the union: put the offer to your members and see whether they accept it or not.
“And stop disrupting the general public and actually putting people off using trains, which is not in the long-term interests of the rail industry or their members.”
The 16 corporations affected embody: Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; c2c; CrossCountry; East Midlands Railway; Greater Anglia; GTR Great Northern Thameslink; Great Western Railway; Island Line; LNER; Northern Trains; Southeastern; Southern/Gatwick Express; South Western Railway; TransPennine Express; and West Midlands Trains.
