Two major train strikes in the U.K. were announced by the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF).
If you are an England resident who regularly uses trains, here's the scope of the upcoming protests and their schedules.
UK Train Strike: ASLEF's Protests To Affect 16 Companies
According to BBC News' latest report, the British trade union's train driver members will participate in two protests. The first one will happen on Sept. 30. This will be followed by another industrial action on Oct. 4.
Aside from this, ASLEF also confirmed that there will be an overtime ban across the rail network in the United Kingdom. This will start on Sept. 29 until Oct. 6.
ASLEF's upcoming protests and overtime ban will coincide with the Conservative Party conference; this will be held in Manchester, England, from Oct. 1 until Oct. 4.
Via its official press release, ASLEF provided the list of all companies that will be affected by their industrial strikes. These include the following:
- Avanti West Coast
- East Midlands Railway
- Greater Anglia
- GTR Great Northern Thameslink
- Great Western Railway
- Island Line
- LNER
- Northern Trains
- Southeastern
- Southern/Gatwick Express
- South Western Railway
- TransPennine Express
- West Midlands Trains
- Chiltern Railways
- c2c
- CrossCountry
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ASLEF Train Strike's Scope
Commuters wait for their train on a platform at West Norwood station in south London on July 18, 2022, amid disruption warnings over extreme heat. Britain and France went on high alert.
ASLEF said that their two major strikes are expected to force train operating companies to cancel all their services during the provided schedules.
"The ban on overtime will seriously disrupt the network as the privatized train companies have always failed to employ enough drivers," added the British union group.
ASLEF explained that the failure of train companies to hire the needed drivers is affecting workers, passengers, and businesses since they can't provide the proper service.
Mick Whelan, the general secretary of ASLEF, said that they don't want to conduct the strikes because these will affect their members' pay, as well as disrupt passengers.
But, he said that the government and train employers left them with no other option but to protest.
"Our members have not, now, had a pay rise for four years - since 2019 - and that's not right when prices have soared in that time," stated the ASLEF official.
He explained that train drivers also wanted to buy what they could purchase four years ago. Right now, ASLEF's leadership is asking where Transport Secretary Mark Harper is.
They are calling out Harper because ASLEF claims that train companies can't provide their requests without the approval of the Secretary of State for Transport.
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