UPDATE (20/07/17): All industrial action has been suspended pending talks between Southern and the Unions. The overtime ban will also be suspended from Monday 24th. More detail as we get it.
The ASLEF Driver's Union has instructed its members to not work overtime from the 29th June on the Southern network as part of the ongoing dispute over the safety of Driver Only Operation. This comes weeks after the ban was postponed between the union and Southern officials.
“We have been talking to the company, over the last fortnight, in parallel, but separate, talks about drivers’ terms and conditions; industrial relations; and pay,” said Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef.
“The company’s failure to engage over DOO is the reason our members will no longer work overtime – which, of course, is entirely voluntary – from Thursday 29 June. By giving the company another fortnight, we had hoped to avoid industrial action because industrial action is always the last resort; we would much rather talk, and negotiate, around a table, than take industrial action.” A spokesperson for Southern said A spokesperson for the company 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.
“We've made a very generous offer that in four years would take a driver’s base salary to £60,683 for the existing 35-hour, four-day week, so we find this threat of an overtime ban surprising and extremely disappointing.” Southern have said that there will be an emergency timetable inplace but have not put a date on when they expect the ban to be lifted and normal services resumed however, they have said they will try and keep as normal of a timetable as possible.
So, what does this mean for Newhaven & Seaford?
According to the emergency timetable, Newhaven & Seaford will be served by a reduced service with Seaford & Brighton services only running hourly from the 29th June until further notice. The ban will also see all of the London Victoria direct services, being cancelled.
For up-to-date information visit southernrailway.com. A download link for the timetable is below. We will post updates to this page as and when we know more. Let us know your views by commenting below.
