19.10.17
ASLEF to hold third ballot to bring Southern dispute to an end
Ballots will be opened to members of ASLEF on a proposed resolution to their longstanding industrial dispute.
The disagreement between the union and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the parent company of Southern Rail, has been ongoing since last April.
The latest deal will give drivers a 28.5% increase over the next five years without changes to the terms and conditions under which Southern employs its staff.
There has also been an agreement reached on driver-only operations (DOO), which was a major point of contention between the two parties. Trains will have a second safety-trained person on board except in exceptional circumstances.
“ASLEF members now have the opportunity to decide on the new proposed resolution we have negotiated with the company on the three outstanding issues we have with GTR Southern,” said Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF.
“In separate, but parallel, talks our negotiating team discussed three distinct issues – DOO, terms and conditions, and pay.
“This proposed agreement has the full support of the negotiating team, and ASLEF’s executive committee. This is, we think, a complete resolution of our long-standing issues with Southern but it is, I must stress, company-specific and does not have implications for any other company on the railway network.”
The news follows three days of striking and an overtime ban on drivers in August, as well as £13.4m in payments which the DfT made GTR spend on the franchise.
Nick Brown, chief operating officer at GTR, said: “We welcome the Aslef executive’s endorsement of the proposals we have negotiated to resolve the dispute.
“We have concluded negotiations on pay, productivity and DOO in a package that will now be put to a referendum of Aslef members.”
This is not the first ballot ASLEF have had on a Southern specific deal. In April 2017 a previously agreed deal was struck down by a 26 vote margin and in February a proposal was rejected which the RMT described as a “shocking betrayal”.
It was reported last month that terms were close to being agreed on the issue and GTR will be hoping the problem can finally be resolved.
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