Aslef Members Accept Poor Southern Rail Driver Only Operation Deal

Drivers on Southern Rail have voted to accept a deal which was recommended by the Aslef union leadership which allows trains to run without a guard.

This will be seen by workers across the national railway and beyond as a historic betrayal by the Aslef leadership, aided and abetted by the Trade Union Congress, which has pushed the lower-paid guards one step closer towards elimination from Britain’s railways.

Presented with a whopping 28% pay rise, Aslef leaders needed to put the offer to members no fewer than three times before it was finally accepted. But it was accepted and it is the clause stating that driver-only operation (DOO) is allowed under ‘exceptional circumstances’ that gives the bosses the weapon to finish the process of changing the whole of Southern’s network to DOO.