TORY ministers and rail industry bosses will be “incredibly disappointed” if they think the sector’s workforce will accept more real-terms pay cuts, train drivers’ union Aslef said today.

The warning came after reports in the Sun newspaper suggested that the union, which is holding another 24-hour strike across 15 train operating companies on Thursday, will soon be offered an 8 per cent deal, spread over two years.

The offer, amounting to 4 per cent in both 2023 and 2024, has already been rejected by fellow transport union RMT, which is launching its second 48-hour walkout this week at Network Rail and several train operators tomorrow. 

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan told the Morning Star that if Tory Transport Secretary Mark Harper thinks, after “no pay rises since 2019, a further below-inflation deal will be backed by my members, he’ll be incredibly disappointed.

“RPI inflation is running at 14 per cent, so that’s a 10 per cent pay cut this year, and perhaps a bigger one next year, and they would want reform on top of it — they are not living in the real world.”

The union leader slammed the article, which quoted an “industry source,” as “indicative of an industry and a government operating in bad faith that they would leak a pay deal before we even have a meeting or discuss anything.

“For them to do their negotiations via the press rather than round the table is obviously setting it up to fail.”

An agreement is needed to resolve the six-month dispute, stressed Mr Whelan – as did RMT, which called for the government to get round the table with unions. 

RMT Scotland regional organiser Gordon Martin said that “cool heads and brave hearts” are needed to end crippling disruption for passengers, as he called for ministers to “intervene in a positive manner.”

Mr Martin noted “warm words but bad actions” at the Department for Transport, including imposing conditions that unions cannot accept, such as driver-only operation on trains, the closure of all ticket offices and cuts to maintenance schedules.

“We’re looking for cool heads and brave hearts, sitting round the table and properly negotiating, not just trying to ram through the government’s wish list, because our members will not accept that,” he told BBC Radio Scotland.