LONDON, March 20 Reuters Train drivers in Britain will take strike action next month, including a sixday overtime ban, across 16 rail companies in a longrunning dispute over pay, the ASLEF trade union said on Wednesday.

ASLEF said drivers at different rail companies will walk out on either April 5, 6 and 8.

Our members voted overwhelmingly yet again for strike action, the union39;s General Secretary Mick Whelan said in a statement.

Those votes show yet again a clear rejection by train drivers of the ridiculous offer put to us in April last year by the Rail Delivery Group, Whelan said, referring to the rail industry body.

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group said the industry will work to minimise disruption to passengers.

We want to resolve this dispute, but the ASLEF leadership need to recognise that hardpressed taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra 54 million pounds a week just to keep services running post COVID, the spokesperson said.

The lines affected will be Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains, CrossCountry, Chiltern, GWR, LNER, Northern, TransPennine Trains, c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, SouthernGatwick Express, South Western Railway and SWR Island Line.

Reporting by Farouq Suleiman; editing by Sarah Young and Sachin Ravikumar

Source Reuters