LONDON – Britain is heading into a second consecutive summer of train strikes this week as union bosses and ministers remain at loggerheads over pay and working conditions.

Train drivers from Aslef – the main labour group for train drivers – will walk out on Saturday, even as tens of thousands of Manchester United and Manchester City football fans travel to Wembley in north-west London for the FA Cup final. 

The same afternoon, the Epsom Derby horse race will take place just south of London, with more than 100,000 people expected to attend.

The rail network had come to a standstill on Wednesday as Aslef held its latest walkout.

It has also banned overtime for Thursday, threatening more disruption, while the RMT, another union, goes on strike on Friday.

“I haven’t seen anyone from the government since Jan 6,” said Mr Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, in an interview with Sky News. “They’re not interested, they don’t care and they don’t want a resolution.”

An official who asked not to be identified said ministers have worked hard to resolve disputes, citing the end of strikes against Network Rail, which runs Britain’s tracks. This week’s walkouts are against train companies.

The government argues that unions have prevented workers from voting on a “fair and reasonable” pay offer.

Train strikes escalated last June when the RMT staged the first of a series of protests running over consecutive days.

As inflation soared in light of the war in Ukraine, workers in other industries also began to walk out, resulting in the British economy losing more than 3.5 million days to strikes. BLOOMBERG