A series of weekend strikes by train drivers on LNER from Saturday has been called off, their trade union Aslef has announced.
Passengers travelling between London and Edinburgh had faced the prospect of months of disruption after LNER drivers earlier this month announced 22 days of industrial action from the start of September until early November.
On Thursday, Aslef said drivers had reached a resolution with LNER regarding the breaking of agreements.
It posted on X: “Strike action scheduled for weekends between 31 August and 10 November is therefore suspended. We look forward to normal working resuming.”
The strikes were called off after meetings between the union and the company. The dispute is separate from the long-running pay row involving drivers across the UK that looks to have been resolved after a new long-term pay offer was made.
Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, said: “Once again we have demonstrated that, by sitting round the table and negotiating, issues on the railway can be resolved in a way that means better workplace practices for rail workers and a better service for the travelling public.
“Aslef will continue to campaign for a fully staffed railway that doesn’t rely on excessive use of driver overtime. We continue to operate in good faith and we are pleased to have finally resolved this longstanding issue with LNER of abuse of our agreements.”
The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said: “For too long our railways have been brought to a standstill by industrial disputes with no end in sight. This is a constructive step forward to fixing our railways and getting the country moving.
“Our priority is to deliver the vital reforms our broken railways need, but we cannot deliver reform if services aren’t running, and industrial disputes are left unresolved.
“It’s very welcome that LNER and Aslef have found a resolution to this dispute at no extra cost to the taxpayer and that will deliver an improved service for passengers.”
The news comes as hundreds of passport control staff at Heathrow are to strike over a four-day period from Saturday in a dispute about working conditions.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has said that 650 of its Border Force members working in passport control at Heathrow terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5 would strike between 31 August and 3 September, and would then work to rule, with no overtime, until 22 September.
The long-running dispute revolves around enforced changes to working conditions, including the introduction of flexible work rosters. PCS members took seven days of strike action in April, May and June.
Source: theguardian.com
