A dispute between drivers’ union ASLEF and London North Eastern Railway has ended following negotiations. Strikes planned for Saturdays from 31 August to 9 November, and on Sundays from 1 September to 10 November have been suspended.
The union accused LNER management of breaking previous agreements on working practices included driver managers driving trains, ‘improper use of overtime working’ and drivers being ‘pushed’ to operate outside of agreed rosters. It also raised concerns about driver managers being unavailable to manage an incident if they were driving trains.
ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘Once again we have demonstrated that by sitting round the table and negotiating, issues on the railway can be resolved in a way that means better workplace practices for rail workers and a better service for the travelling public. ASLEF will continue to campaign for a fully-staffed railway that doesn’t rely on excessive use of driver overtime.
‘We continue to operate in good faith and we are pleased to have finally resolved this long-standing issue with LNER of abuse of our agreements. We look forward to normal working resuming.’
An LNER spokesman added: ‘After constructive talks with ASLEF, we are pleased that strikes planned to commence from this Saturday 31 August have now been called off. We will be looking to strengthen the timetable published for this weekend and advise customers to check for the latest information in advance of their journey.’
