WORCESTERSHIRE rail users have been suffering fresh travel disruption today (May 31) as strikes continue.
There are no West Midlands Railways services running at all while Great Western Railway don't have any trains running in the county.
The strikes are linked to the industrial action of the Aslef union which walked out on Wednesday, (May 31), as part of the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
The union’s general secretary Mick Whelan said no negotiations aimed at resolving the bitter row are taking place, while the Department for Transport (DfT) insisted it has “facilitated a fair and reasonable pay offer”.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has called a strike on Friday, while another Aslef walkout will take place on Saturday.
Passengers are being advised to plan ahead and check before travelling.
Mr Whelan said: “There are no negotiations since they came out with yet another deal that contained all our ‘red lines’.
“If you spend months in a room, tell people things aren’t acceptable to you, then they produce a deal that contains those things then they are setting the deal up to fail.
“That is a deliberate act on behalf of both the government and the people that we’re dealing with.
“They do not apparently want a resolution.”
Aslef says train drivers have not had a pay rise for four years.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “These strikes have been co-ordinated by union leaders to disrupt passengers in a week which will see major events such as the first ever all Manchester FA Cup final, the Epsom Derby and a number of concerts and festivals across the UK.
“Not content with impacting the hundreds of thousands of people who have looked forward to these events all year round, unions are also targeting their own members’ pockets by forcing them to miss out on pay every time they strike.
“The government has facilitated a fair and reasonable pay offer, now union leaders must do the right thing and put this to their members.”
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