Train drivers at East Midlands Railway have voted to continue taking strike action for six months in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions.
Aslef says its members at East Midlands, joined with those on Chiltern, C2C, Northern and TransPennine railways in voting to carry on with action, which began in July 2022.
Unions involved in disputes have to re-ballot their members every six months to continue with industrial action.
In the latest ballots, the lowest percentage in favour of more strikes was 89.4 per cent at C2C, which links London with south Essex. All the rest were above 90 per cent.
In terms of all eligible members, the highest majority in favour of strikes were at the north of England operators, Northern (72 per cent) and TransPennine Express (73 per cent). Both are run by the government. C2C had the lowest proportion, at 63 per cent.
Announcing the voting figures, Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef said: “These results show – yet again – a clear rejection by train drivers of the ridiculous offer put to us in April last year by the Rail Delivery Group on behalf of the train operating companies with whom we are in dispute.
“The RDG knew the offer would be rejected because we had told them that a land grab for all the terms and conditions we have negotiated over the years would be unacceptable.
“Since then our members have voted, time and again, for strikes. That’s why Mark Harper, the transport secretary, is being disingenuous when he says that offer should have been put to members.
“Drivers obviously wouldn’t vote for industrial action, again and again and again, if they thought that was a good offer. They don’t.
“That offer was dead in the water in April last year – and I think Mr Harper knows that.”
But Mr Whelan offered an olive branch of sorts to ministers and the employers, saying: “We remain open and willing, as ever, to talk about a revised offer.
A spokesperson for Rail Delivery Group said: “We want to give our people a pay rise, but the Aslef leadership need to recognise that in an industry where taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54m a week to keep services running post-Covid, any pay rise must be fair and sustainable.
“Instead of staging more damaging industrial action which will continue to result in huge disruption for our customers and staff, we call on the Aslef leadership to work with us to resolve this dispute and deliver a fair deal which makes the changes needed to make services more reliable and punctual and secure a bright, long-term future for our people.”
How do I travel on 5th April when trains on strike its my brothers wedding
We are traveling to London on the 29th of August and I am worried already we have to gat a Eurostar in the afternoon