Show your Solidarity with the Strikes
Solidarity with the strikers - take action now!
Show your solidarity
TSSA members across the rail industry will be taking strike action across October.
Here you'll find ideas and resources for practical ways to show your solidarity with the strikers.
- Draft Letter to Elected Politicians. Use website They Work for You and/or Write to Them to find your MP, your MSP, MS/AS, MLA or London Assembly Member and email them using the draft below.
- Share our Industrial Action brief (downloadable below) with your elected politicians, or with anyone else you think would find it interesting.
- Write to Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP using the draft below.
- Retweet this video from Labour North of Tyne Mayor, Jamie Driscoll.
Write to your politicians
[Please copy and paste this into your own email. Amend or delete sections in bold with [square brackets] and of course please add any personal messages]
[Insert your name]
[Insert your address]
Dear [Politician Name]
I am writing to you as a constituent in [constituency/place] to ask you to support railway workers taking industrial action this summer.
Across the country people are facing unmanageable rising cost-of-living expenses while wages remain stagnant. Railway workers taking industrial action are facing real terms pay cuts and are taking action as a last resort; losing pay in order to stand up for not only themselves but working people across the country. Meanwhile railway company profits are healthier than ever due to tax-payer support during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Railway workers want a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies, a pay rise which meets the cost-of-living crisis and no unagreed changes to terms and conditions. After so much tax-payer investment in private railway companies, it is time the Government and these railway companies put the investment back into the workers who keep our country moving.
[You may want to add in why you are personally supporting the industrial action / any other thoughts on the issue]
I am asking you to take the following steps in support of workers and to address my concerns:
- Support railway workers receiving a pay rise in line with inflation on your social media channels and on picket lines.
- Write to the Department for Transport and Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP making it clear that passengers such as myself support workers and industrial action.
- Write to all train operators whose service runs through our constituency asking for them to negotiate in good faith, for workers to receive a fair pay rise and that no unilateral changes to workers’ terms and conditions are made.
I am also concerned about disinformation that the Department for Transport and railway companies have spread about their members and industrial action, you can read more about this on the TSSA website and in their submission to the Transport Select Committee
In your response I would appreciate if you would outline the ways you intend to support railway workers on my behalf. If you’re unable to address this personally, I would like to request that you escalate my letter to the relevant Minister or department.
Please keep me informed of any progress made.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
Next steps:
Search for your MP at They Work For You or use Write to Them to find your MSP, MS/AS, MLA or London Assembly Member.
Make sure to include your postcode so they know you are a constituent.
Remember to please personalise the letter in any way you see fit! More personal letters are likely to get more attention.
Email the letter to your MP.
You can also tweet your MP – Find them at https//tweetyourmp.com/
Suggested tweet:
“Hi [Insert MP twitter handle] I am one of your constituents and supporting railway members from @TSSAunion, @RMTunion and @ASLEFunion taking industrial action. Please let me know if you are supporting them too #RailStrikes”
Members - Write to Transport Secretary
[Insert your name]
[Insert your address]
Dear Rt Hon Anne Marie Trevelyan MP,
I am writing to you as a railway worker to ask that you step in, mandate a fair solution, and put an end to the ongoing rail dispute.
Time and time again my colleagues and I step up to the plate when the country needs us most. We saw this during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we saw it again when we met the unprecedented demand on transport during the public mourning period following Queen Elizabeth’s passing. We are proud of our work and we ask you to support us so we can continue doing it.
Nobody takes Industrial Action lightly and we are doing so as a last resort. Railway company profits are healthier than ever due to tax-payer support during the Covid-19 pandemic, while we are being asked to take real-terms pay cuts and work under insecure terms and conditions.
[You may want to add in personal work experiences / how industrial action is affecting you / any other thoughts on the issue]
I believe that National Rail Contracts which are publicly available, indicate that train operators require a written mandate from the Secretary for Transport before they can engage with unions. I ask that you:
- Personally meet with unions as soon as possible to find a solution which ends this dispute quickly, guaranteeing no compulsory redundancies, a pay rise for workers which meets the cost-of-living crisis and no unagreed changes to terms and conditions
OR
- Give railway operators a mandate to find a solution which ends this dispute quickly, guaranteeing no compulsory redundancies, a pay rise for workers which meets the cost-of-living crisis and no unagreed changes to terms and conditions
You have the power to end this dispute fairly.
After so much tax-payer investment in private railway companies, I believe it is time the Government acted to put investment into us, the workers who keep Britain moving.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
To: annemarie.trevelyan.mp@parliament.ukRt Anne Marie Trevelyan
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 4DR
As a railway passenger, I urge you to support good faith negotiations between railway operators and unions and mandate a pay rise for railway workers that meets the cost-of-living crisis.
I support railway workers taking industrial action to tackle real terms pay cuts and understand they are doing so as a last resort. Railway company profits are healthier than ever due to tax-payer support during the Covid-19 pandemic, while across the country wages remain stagnant and people are facing unmanageable rising expenses.
[You may want to add in why you are personally supporting the industrial action / how industrial action is affecting you / any other thoughts on the issue]
I believe that National Rail Contracts which are publicly available, indicate that train operators require a written mandate from you before they can engage with unions. I ask that you:
- Personally meet with unions in good faith and find a solution which ends this dispute quickly, guaranteeing no compulsory redundancies, a pay rise for workers which meets the cost-of-living crisis and no unagreed changes to terms and conditions
OR
- Give railway operators a mandate to find a solution which ends this dispute quickly, guaranteeing no compulsory redundancies, a pay rise for workers which meets the cost-of-living crisis and no unagreed changes to terms and conditions
After so much tax-payer investment in private railway companies, I believe it is time the Government and railway companies put the investment back into the workers who keep our country moving.
In your response I would like you to outline the ways you intend to support railway workers on my behalf.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
To: annemarie.trevelyan.mp@parliament.uk
Rt Anne Marie Trevelyan
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 4DR
TSSA Industrial Action Brief August 2022
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Social Media actions
Hi [Insert MP twitter handle] I am one of your constituents and supporting railway members from @TSSAunion, @RMTunion and @ASLEFunion taking industrial action. Please let me know if you are supporting them too #RailStrike
I’m a passenger [insert @operatorhandle] and I’m supporting the #RailStrike
I’m a passenger [insert @operatorhandle] and I think your workers deserve fair pay #RailStrike
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