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Travelers departing from the United Kingdom’s most heavily trafficked airport are now being impacted by the ongoing rail strikes this week. The strike on Thursday, carried out by train operators who are part of the Aslef union, includes employees of the Heathrow Express.
Employees of CrossCountry and GWR who operate vehicles are currently participating in a 24-hour strike.
Today, there are no services available from CrossCountry, the train company that covers Great Britain, reaching as far north as Aberdeen in Scotland and as far south as Penzance in Cornwall.
The Heathrow Express, a train service that travels directly from London Paddington to the airport’s Central station in just 15 minutes, is currently operating at half capacity. Instead of the usual four trains per hour, only two will be running and services will end at 7:15pm tonight.
GWR currently has a restricted number of routes running, and all trains will come to a halt at 7pm.
Train drivers are participating in a series of walk-outs throughout the week with the intention of causing maximum disruption.
All train services have been cancelled by Northern and TransPennine Express on Friday.
Furthermore, the Aslef union has implemented a restriction on working additional hours for the entire week leading up to and including Saturday. This is impacting operators, even on days when there are no strikes taking place.
According to Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, our decision to go on strike is not meant to inconvenience passengers. Rather, it is a way for us to express our dissatisfaction with the government’s inflexibility and the lack of trust shown by the private companies that employ us.
Train operators are requesting a salary increase without any conditions, and then discussing with employers at a regional level to update work procedures – however, this will come at an extra cost for the employers. Aslef states that certain drivers have not received a raise in pay for a span of five years.
A representative from the Department for Transport expressed disappointment that Aslef is choosing to disrupt the public and businesses in the hospitality sector during the holiday season. Rather than going on strike, Aslef should consider emulating other rail unions by allowing their members to vote on the proposed pay agreement.
According to a representative from the Rail Delivery Group, the strike organized by Aslef’s leadership is completely unnecessary and will unfortunately cause disruptions for customers and businesses during the important holiday season.
Source: independent.co.uk
