GWR: TSSA Equality Rep vacancies 22 June 2023

We now have 3 vacancies for Equality representatives in GWR.

Who are the current Equality Representatives?

Your existing Equality representatives can be found in GWR page of the TSSA website in the Reps area. 

What do Equality representatives do?

Equality representatives are there to champion the position of under-represented groups within the workforce, ideally paving the way to enable the workforce to better reflect wider society by breaking down barriers that still exist and providing support to those colleagues and members who need it.

Much of the issues that Equality representatives will be involved in is supported by a piece of legislation called the Equality Act 2010 which recognises and provides protections for various Protected characteristics, namely:

Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage and Civil Partnership, Pregnancy and Maternity, Race, Religion and Belief, Sex, Sexual Orientation, additionally TSSA recognise Education levels and Socio-Economic status.

TSSA are union leaders in Organising on Equality particularly for groups/areas such as Women, Neurodiversity, Disability, LGBT+, BAME, Mental Health and Young workers issues and are committed to celebrate and promote diversity by campaigning for positive change in the workplace.

We are still in negotiations with GWR over the agreement that will underpin the Equality representatives and there is a further meeting in Newton Abbott on 9 August 2023 which we are hoping our Equality representatives can contribute to and attend. We also have various working groups to look at improving polices like Respect and Dignity and the Maternity and Paternity policies and procedures that Equality reps may wish to be a part of shaping.

Stand for Nomination

As we still have 3 vacancies, we are calling on members to stand for nomination, if we receive more than 3 valid nomination forms by the closing date then we will need to run an election. Any TSSA member working within GWR can become a TSSA Equality rep. Although it would be good to have candidates from the BAME community and/or those that are Neurodiverse and/or have a disability particularly from the East and West regions where we are not currently represented.

Getting nominated by your fellow TSSA members is straight forward simply fill in the nomination form that can be downloaded here, then complete it with your details, sign it and find 6 TSSA members to nominate you for election. Then scan it and email it to Alan Valentine valentinea@tssa.org.uk .

Nominations should be received no later than 9am on Tuesday 18 July 2023, any questions should be directed to Alan Valentine. 

All representatives will be entitled to paid time off to carry out their duties and receive training.