UK train drivers announce Sept. 1 strike over pay dispute

Thousands of train drivers in Britain belonging to the ASLEF union plan to strike on Sept. 1 and ban overtime the next day in a months-long pay dispute, the union said on Friday in a move it expects to affect passengers across the country. The union said the industrial action concerning 13,000 drivers would affect 16 train companies.

“We don’t want to take this action but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us,” ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan said in the statement. The workers have staged 11 days of strikes so far in the dispute which began last June.