Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: “Our members have been instrumental in the success of the Elizabeth line – it’s a partnership, in practice, between the company and its employees – but, despite our best efforts, MTR has decided not to recognise the input, the importance, and the value of train drivers in this success.
Nigel Gibson, Aslef’s lead officer with MTR, said: ‘Taking action is always a last resort, because we do not want to inconvenience passengers and our members do not want to lose money, and I hope that the company, seeing the strength of feeling amongst our members, their drivers, will do the right thing and return to the negotiating table.”.
Passengers on the UK’s busiest rail route, London’s Elizabeth line, face four days of disruption when train drivers walk out in February and March.
Train drivers will walk out on Thursday 27 February, Saturday 1 March, Saturday 8 March and Monday 10 March.
“I suspect that the company’s intransigence is because it has lost the contract with TfL to run the Elizabeth line; if that is indeed the case, it is very disappointing to see the company behave this way.”.
