GWR: General Grades Workforce reform/2023 pay talks

We have now been in talks with GWR both at company level and in grade specific talks seeking to secure the 2023 pay award for the General Grades for many weeks. The talks have been continuing on the basis that they will be confidential until talks have been exhausted and a proposal can be put to the Department for transport to receive a mandate to implement and offer a pay rise. All along we have made GWR aware that we would be putting any final offer to our members to vote on.

It is important that you ensure that your TSSA membership details are up to date and correct and you can do this yourself by registering for “MY TSSA” or if you have already then simply log in in and check that your information is up to date and correct and amend anything that is incorrect.

If you need to register then you can follow this link and if you want to log in then please use this link the email that is linked to your membership details is normally used to log in. If you have any issues with this then please contact our membership team on membership@tssa.org.uk

As the talks started later than expected we are still in detailed talks on the various elements that GWR would like to see both overarching the impacted grade groups and specific within non-management grades within Stations, On Trains, Clerical and Engineering. Some groups have concluded talks, but we still have meetings scheduled with GWR for some weeks to come. To be clear the proposals being negotiated will not impact on Management grades or Drivers.

GWR have recently confirmed that the Department for Transport (DFT) have asked the Train Operating Companies to submit proposals to them by the 18^th of May, they have advised that if they receive these early then they will not be considered beforehand and they haven’t been given any indication of when they will receive a response!

This is frustrating because it means that we will have to wait for the DFT to confirm if the proposals put to them enable a mandate to be given back to the TOC’s to make a formal pay offer to the trade unions as so far they have only had a mandate to hold talks.

We appreciate this must be a frustrating situation for you all waiting to hear on a pay rise that could have been Paid back in 2023, but rest assured your representatives are seeking to ensure that any offers put to you have gone through as much robust challenge as possible to attempt to make them palatable. Equally these are negotiations and GWR has given red lines on particular items that in their view must remain as part of the workforce reform proposals. Ultimately you will have the final say on whether you can accept them or not.

In order for people to have a say in any final proposals they must be members, so please encourage any of your colleagues who aren’t currently in the union to join us online at https://www.tssa.org.uk/join-tssa

We will be planning our next steps for 2024 pay and as normal be sending out a pay survey for members to participate in so please keep a look out for that when it comes.
 

Vacant Representative positions

We have a number of vacant Reps positions across various grades and roles, Industrial Reps, Health & Safety Reps, Union Learning Reps and Equality Reps, if you think you might be interested in representing your TSSA colleagues in any of these positions then please email Alan Valentine by clicking here.