The votes, called for by Aslef, could lead to action with an even bigger impact than during last month’s strikes by 40,000 RMT workers – when the absence of signalers in particular halted most services in the UK – particularly if it coincides with action by Network Rail administrators. whose ballot by the TSSA (Association of Salaried Personal Transporters) will be announced on Monday as well. A strike by Aslef drivers would halt services on the affected train companies – Chiltern, GWR, LNER, London Overground, Northern, Southeastern, TransPennine and West Midlands – while action by the smaller union TSSA could cut the network from staff emergency to keep services running during a wider strike at Network Rail. The TSSA has discussed timing the action to coincide with the Commonwealth Games at the end of July, although no specific dates have been announced. Talks will resume on Monday between train companies Network Rail and the RMT, which suspended talks last week for its annual general meeting, with union leader Mick Lynch vowing to continue “its fight of our generation”. Hopes of a breakthrough appear slim unless the government agrees that rail workers should be allowed a rise of more than 2%. Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said train companies had bids below the inflation dictated by their contracts with the Department for Transport. “At first they didn’t say it was the government. Now they are honest and say that the government has limited them to 2%,” he said. With a strike order already passed at three companies where action has started – Greater Anglia, Hull Trains and London Trams – and three more ballots to come in a fortnight, Aslef could potentially strike at 14 train companies. If this happens at the same time, much of the network will grind to a halt. Whelan said: “There’s no reason to call them all together, but at some point it could come together.” Strike days would not be timed to coincide with other union action, partly because of Thatcher-era union laws, he said, but similar dates could follow: “If we know some people might strike on Tuesday, we might strike. on Wednesday for maximum effect.” Whelan said cuts likely to be imposed on the railways, such as closing ticket offices or running more trains without guards, would affect staff and passenger safety as well as pay. “Companies are trying to tell drivers they have to take pay cuts – a 2% pay rise when inflation is running at 11% – so they can pay their senior executives more and transfer tens of millions of pounds of profits overseas as dividends for the shareholders”. He said the private rolling stock companies, or ‘roscos’, were still making huge profits: ‘Nobody wants to talk about the £220m the roscos were making or the billions they’ve taken away. They want to attack staff wages.” Subscribe to the Business Today daily email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter @BusinessDesk A DfT spokesman said: “The Government is committed to modernizing the railways and continuing to deliver better services for everyone. “Unions know all too well that negotiations over pay and working practices are not with the government – they are with the employers of the people they represent. “Unions should stop blaming and get around the table with employers to agree a deal that is fair to staff, passengers and taxpayers.” The RMT announced last week that staff at its biggest train company, GTR, which includes Southern and Thameslink, were now ordered to strike after falling below the vote threshold in the original ballot. The TSSA is also awaiting the results of strike votes at four train operators this week: from Southeastern on Monday and three others on Wednesday – Greater Anglia, GWR and TransPennine.
