Rail unions hope to find solution to strikes ‘together’ with UK government

theguardian.com:

Union leaders said that they hoped to “find a solution together” with the government to end the long-running dispute over pay, as a train drivers’ strike brought many services around Britain to a complete halt on Wednesday.

Delegates who had remained at the Conservative party conference for Liz Truss’s speech were unable to travel by train with Avanti, CrossCountry, Chiltern and West Midlands, which were among the 12 operators left without drivers.

Motorways and urban roads into several major cities were heavily congested as major train operations across Britain were all but closed down by the 24-hour Aslef strike.

The transport secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, has appeared to hold out an olive branch to unions in recent days and told Conservative members in a conference speech on Tuesday “there is a deal to be done”, adding that “the very last thing the country needs right now is more damaging industrial disputes”.

She said she wanted employers to bring forward positive proposals, and told unions: “Let’s find a landing zone we can all work with.”

Despite the marked change in tone from her predecessor, Grant Shapps, unions said there had yet to be any substantive move in talks with the rail industry.

Aslef’s general secretary, Mick Whelan, said only the government could solve the dispute, but added that he had found Trevelyan welcoming and listening, and looked forward to trying to “find a solution together”. At a picket line outside the closed Euston Station on Wednesday, Whelan told the PA news agency he would continue to talk but feared Truss was not getting “the mood music of the country” over the cost-of-living crisis and need for pay rises. He said: “Only the government can correct this and we ask them to do so.”

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