Southern Rail Drivers Refuse £75,000 Settlement, Public Disruption to Continue

A total £75,000 offer to settle has been rejected in an ongoing 14-month dispute between Southern Rail and its drivers. This means disruption to the public rail service may continue indefinitely.

Around 1,000 drivers were offered an equivalent of 23.8% increase to their salaries over four years, but an agreement could not be met. A company spokesman said: ‘We take that to mean rejection of our offer.’

For months now railways in the south have been highly disrupted by the ongoing dispute and now Aslef, the union behind the drivers, has reinstated an overtime ban from next Thursday onwards.

The dispute began over a year ago between the driver workers and the parents company of the firm, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), amid safety concerns regarding the change of guards and driver only trains. One of the most mentioned issues is the conditions in which the drivers must drive in.

The firm is now desperate to end the dispute and move on. The deal offered this week would have seen an average 35 hour a week £49,001 pa rise to £60,683, but drivers were already used to working overtime for an extra 25% pay.

According to the Daily Mail a GTR spokesman said: ‘The Aslef leadership has twice accepted the extension of driver-controlled operation and asked us this time to package it up with a pay deal.’

Martin Pratt, Partner at Gordon Dadds, told Lawyer Monthly: “Southern Rail are subject to the same duty of care towards their drivers and the same regulations under the Health and Safety at Work Act as any other employer.  However, additionally, the railway industry is governed by safety rules issued by the Rail Safety and Standards Board, set up after the Ladbroke Grove disaster.  That Board has said that the Southern proposals relating to the operation of doors are acceptable, the unions disagree.  That is the genesis of the dispute.

“Employers have a stringent duty of care to their employees.  All steps which are reasonably possible to ensure their health, safety and wellbeing, including in relation to the security of employees, must be taken.  It also includes matters such as bullying.  If Southern Railway have identified a security risk then they have a positive duty to do something about it.  If they don’t they are in breach of the law.”