Three days of train strikes have been announced by Aslef – including on the day of the FA Cup final.
The decision to take industrial action comes as the train drivers’ union rejected a pay offer from 16 train companies.
The dates announced are Friday 12 May, Wednesday 31 May, and Saturday 3 June – the day of the football cup final and the Epsom Derby.
Aslef’s general secretary Mick Whelan said: “Our executive committee met this morning and rejected a risible proposal we received from a pressure group which represents some of the train companies.
“The proposal – of just 4% – was clearly not designed to be accepted as inflation is still running north of 10% and our members at these companies have not had an increase for four years.”
As well as strikes, Aslef said it would withdraw non-contractual overtime from 15 May to 20 May and again on 13 May and 1 June.
‘A child is going to lose their life’: Sickening trend of children filming attacks on other kids
UK evacuations from Sudan could be ‘impossible’ when truce ends, warns foreign secretary
Marelle Sturrock: Manhunt under way after suspicious death of teacher in Glasgow
The industrial action announced today will affect some of the UK’s biggest train firms, including Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, London North Eastern Railway and South Western Railway.
Mr Whelan said the union “do not want to go on strike” but said the “blame for this action lies, fairly and squarely, at the feet of the employers who have forced our hand over this by their intransigence”.
“It is now up to them to come up with a more sensible, and realistic, offer and we ask the government not to hinder this process,” he said.
The latest action announced by Aslef comes as the government takes the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to court over its planned strike from Sunday night until 8pm on Tuesday 2 May.
Health secretary Steve Barclay is bidding to stop the strike, arguing that the union’s strike mandate runs out at midnight on 1 May.
Speaking outside court on Thursday morning, RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said: “What I would say is that Steve Barclay may get a legal win today, but what he has done is he has lost the public, and he has certainly lost nursing.
“It is a short term gain, but long term, there’s not trust whatsoever from any of our nursing staff for this government.
“If you look at what the public are saying, we are the most trusted profession, and we are being dragged through the courts by the least trusted group of people in England.”
Ms Cullen called for the government to sit down and negotiate, rather than take legal action.
In a letter to the RCN last night, Mr Barclay asked Ms Cullen to cut short the planned strike to “avoid an unnecessary court hearing”.
He wrote: “I do not want this issue to go to court. I have a duty to protect patients, NHS workers and nurses who are RCN members, which means that I could not stand by and allow illegal action to take place.”
He said the RCN has instructed its legal team not to attend court and that he assumes this is because the union has also “concluded that this action is indeed unlawful”.
The RCN has argued that the action on 2 May falls within the limits of the Trade Union Act 2016, and pointed out that no NHS employers are joining the legal action.
