Strikes hammer the UK as talks yield little progress

The UK is being hammered by public sector and transport strikes with experts saying that months of talks have yielded little progress.

Friday, February 3 brings more disruption for rail passengers after the driver´s union Aslef rejected an eight per cent pay rise that would see their salaries rise to almost £65,000 a year.

Aslef has told Sky News that the talks are going backwards with little progress with Simon Weller saying: “I don’t know whether to point the finger of blame at the ineptitude of the Department for Transport (DfT) or the Rail Delivery Group.”

He added that: “We would struggle to recommend a deal of a four per cent pay rise for last year and 4four per cent this year if there were no conditions attached, but we are being asked to give up collective bargaining and effectively agree to a no-strike deal.

“Obviously, it was going to be rejected – it was designed to fail.”

The union man said that the longer the strike goes on the more attitudes harden, blaming the DfT and train operators.

AGS Simon Weller, District Officer Nigel Gibson and EC member Howard Kaye have joined pickets at Bishop’s Stortford and Cambridge so far this morning pic.twitter.com/kJYXgJwidL

— ASLEF (@ASLEFunion) February 3, 2023

The strike is the first of a series by different public worker groups including:

• Nurses – February 6 and 7
• Ambulance staff – February 6 and 10
• Physiotherapists – February 9
• Teachers – February 14 and 28
• University staff – February 9, 21, 22, 23 and 27
• Royal Mail – February 16

Today´s rail strike is the only one scheduled for this month, but with no progress, it is likely more dates will be announced soon.

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group said: “We had hoped the Aslef leadership would engage constructively to move talks forward, rather than staging more unnecessary strikes. We can only apologise for the disruption.

“To minimise the impact of the Aslef action, we advise passengers to check before they travel, allow extra time and find out when their first and last train will depart.”

Due to ASLEF strike action, there will be severe disruption to some parts of the rail network between 1 and 3 February. If you are travelling, please check your entire journey before you set off. Visit https://t.co/N9fhJzHHGb for more information pic.twitter.com/Ute0z2SiZW

— Rail Delivery Group (@RailDeliveryGrp) February 1, 2023

There has been little willingness from the government to agree to demands as strikes hammer the UK with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak undertaking a charm offensive in a bid to garner public support for the government´s position.

For now, there is little sign that there will be any reduction in strike action with many suggesting that the opposite is more likely.

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