July 3rd - New month, same story on the trains. The latest on strike action.
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 3 July 2023
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Over a year on from the start of the first national rail strikes since the 1980s, the dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions appears as intractable as ever. July sees the resumption of industrial action aimed at more than a dozen train operators by both main rail unions.
The unions say their members have not had a pay rise for four years and are demanding a decent, no-strings award that takes into account the high level of inflation.
Train operators and ministers – who must sign off any deal – say reforms are essential following the collapse of rail revenue, which they say is 30 per cent lower than before the Covid pandemic.
The train drivers’ union, Aslef, is mounting “action short of a strike” in the shape of an overtime ban from 3 to 8 July inclusive. Hundreds of trains are being cancelled each day. Later in July – on 20, 22 and 29 – the RMT will be walking out again.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And that sound of course tells you that once again I am on a train for the first |
| 0:11.1 | independent travel podcast of the week. Good morning. It is Monday the 3rd of July and I'm on a |
| 0:18.0 | quite crowded Thameslink train and the reason that I'm back on the trains is that we have the next latest bout of industrial action that is affecting the rail network across, well, certainly England, also parts of Wales and Scotland as well. |
| 0:37.3 | This is specifically a overtime ban by members of the Aslef Drivers Union. |
| 0:45.3 | They basically say we haven't had a pay rise to four years. |
| 0:48.2 | We want a decent no strings award to take account at the high level of inflation. |
| 0:57.6 | And we will just keep on taking industrial action until that happens crucially this is not a strike it is action short of a strike the technical term |
| 1:04.6 | and as a result of it hundreds of trains are being cancelled every day including including a number on Thameslink. |
| 1:13.4 | Thameslink, part of the GTR franchise, which also includes Great Northern Southern and Gatwick Express. |
| 1:20.5 | Gatwick Express completely closed down. |
| 1:23.7 | And as a result of that, well, the idea is that there will be an impact which a lot of train drivers and other people will say, well, if you had enough staff, then it wouldn't be a problem when we have an overtime ban, would it? |
| 1:40.6 | Well, it's fair to say, I think, that all train operators rely, as a lot of industries |
| 1:45.6 | do, on a certain amount of overtime to operate their normal timetables. And here on Thameslink, |
| 1:53.4 | they are saying, services busier than usual, especially in peak hours, likely you'll need |
| 1:59.0 | to queue. You may not be able to board your chosen service |
| 2:01.9 | allow extra time for your journey across at southwestern railway which um runs from britain's |
| 2:09.4 | busiest railway station london waterloo um all those trains i think go through wimbledon which of course |
| 2:16.1 | is starting this week. |
| 2:18.4 | They have got an emergency timetable, they call it an amended timetable, that we can have a high |
| 2:24.4 | degree of confidence we can reliably and safely deliver every day. |
| 2:29.4 | Well, that's good to know, except that they then carry on that services will usually be reduced to hourly in off-peak periods |
| 2:37.6 | with a small number of cancellations during the morning and evening peaks. |
... |
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