Train drivers accept pay deal, ending long dispute with 16 firms

Train drivers have voted overwhelmingly to accept a multi-year pay deal, ending a two-year dispute at 16 rail companies, their union ASLEF has announced.

Members voted by 96% in favour of the pay rise, which is worth 15% over three years, the organisation said.

The offer was made by the new Labour Government within weeks of the party winning the general election.

Mick Whelan, ASLEF's general secretary, said: "It is with great pleasure that we can announce the end of the longest train drivers' strike in history.

"The strength and resilience and determination shown by train drivers to protect their hard-won and paid-for terms and conditions against the political piracy of an inept and destructive Tory government has prevailed."

The union boss added that it was "not a fight we sought or wanted".

"All we sought was - after five years without a pay rise, working for private companies who, throughout that period, declared millions of pounds in profits and dividends to shareholders - was a dent in the cost of living."

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He thanked the new transport secretary Louise Haigh for entering negotiations and finding a way forward, "so that trains will perform and run in the interest of the passenger, of the taxpayer, and of those who work in and are dedicated to this industry".

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