Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has brokered a pay deal with Avanti West Coast train drivers that includes a 3.6% salary increase and enhanced payments for Sunday and rest-day work, averting a threatened strike. The agreement provides drivers, who have starting salaries around £70,000, with an additional payment of up to £720 for working a fifth day in a week.
The deal was reached after members of the Aslef union rejected an earlier offer and voted for industrial action. Leaked union correspondence indicated that the threat of strikes accelerated negotiations. Si Goode, Aslef council secretary, stated that the ballot result allowed the union to apply "immense pressure" on both Avanti and the government. Following the vote, union representatives met with rail bosses, who subsequently presented an improved offer.
Goode informed union members that the agreement met "all our collective aspirations" and significantly improved pay and remuneration. Avanti West Coast, which operates services on the West Coast Main Line connecting London with cities like Manchester and Birmingham, had previously reduced services by 38 per day over the summer and faced punctuality issues, with 57.4% of services arriving on time in the latest 12-month period.
The agreement has drawn criticism from the Conservatives. Shadow transport secretary Richard Holden accused Labour of "totally capitulating to their union paymasters" and suggested that taxpayers would fund the deal to "save Burnham's blushes." Holden claimed this represented Labour "paying more for less with passengers and taxpayers footing the bill."
The Department for Transport defended such agreements, noting that resolving rail disputes prevents costly disruptions for passengers and taxpayers. Government figures suggest that industrial action on railways between June 2022 and August 2024 resulted in approximately £850 million in lost passenger revenue. The department expressed satisfaction that Avanti West Coast and LNER are working with Aslef to "enable a fair and affordable settlement to keep Britain's railways moving and prevent disruption for passengers."
Separately, drivers at LNER have been offered a deal valued at 12% over four years, along with changes to working conditions, which Aslef has put to its members for a vote.
This development follows a recent pay offer accepted by resident doctors, ending years of strikes that had impacted the NHS. That deal, worth an average 6.6% this year, will bring the average earnings for these medics to 35.2% more than four years ago, with some potentially earning over £100,000 annually before qualifying as consultants. The resident doctors' strikes had cost the NHS an estimated £3 billion.