Sadiq Khan: Elizabeth line pay dispute must be settled ‘amicably’

Evening Standard

Sadiq Khan: Elizabeth line pay dispute must be settled ‘amicably’. Elizabeth line train drivers are to stage a series of strikes in the next few weeks in a dispute over pay, their union Aslef announced on Thursday.The walkouts - on top of previous action on New Year’s Eve by RMT members - were called after drivers belonging to the union rejected a 4.5 per cent pay increase, according to the line’s managers.Drivers will walk out on Thursday, February 27; Saturday, March 1; Saturday, March 8 and Monday, March 10, from 00:01 to 23:59.The Elizabeth line is the busiest rail line in the UK and is used for more than 700,000 weekday journeys.Sources told The Standard that a typical train driver’s salary on the line was £72,465 for a 34-hour, four-day week - which would have risen by £3,261 to £75,726 under the proposed pay uplift.A driver instructor’s salary would have risen from £75,430 to £78,824 while a driver team leader’s salary would have increased from £76,090 to £79,514.

Transcript

00:00I think what's really important is for MTR, who run the Elizabeth line, and ASLEF to resolve

00:07these differences amicably rather than going on strike. I think strikes ultimately is a

00:11sign of failure. The first one is scheduled to take place at the end of this month. That

00:14means there is some time for ASLEF and MTR to resolve these differences. What's not right

00:19is for them to keep running commentary on any negotiation that takes place. But I encourage

00:23ASLEF and MTR to get around the table and solve any differences they've got. These strikes

00:28will mean the Elizabeth line loses passengers, passengers are inconvenienced, the drivers

00:34lose a wage and so nobody wins. It's not the case that you'd simply encourage them to take

00:39the payoff for them. No, I'd encourage MTR and ASLEF to talk about the differences they've

00:44got and resolve them amicably, which is really important.

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