TPE: TSSA Wins Collective Bargaining again in TransPennine Express

This week TSSA has had a letter from the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) advising us of the good news that they have decided to grant statutory recognition/collective bargaining for a group of Managers called Customer Delivery Managers and Senior Customer Delivery Managers.

As many members might be aware we have concerns about how low paid this group of workers are from our recent Press release and Pay claim.

For many months last year TPE strung us along making it appear that they might entertain a Voluntary Recognition or Collective Bargaining Agreement and despite demonstrating that we had the majority of staff in membership eager to win collective bargaining they have sought to gaslight our members by making it sound like their issues aren’t valid and that they don’t have the majority support for Collective Bargaining. This has only hardened our members’ resolve to have an independent TSSA voice within the company and the ability to elect their own TSSA Trade Union Representatives.

As a result of the CAC’s decision both TSSA and TPE have until 30th of April to agree on the bargaining arrangements or what the CAC calls "method" of collective bargaining.

If agreement cannot be reached by that date, then the CAC will Impose their own "method" of collective bargaining on both parties and TPE will have the shame of being the only company in the rail industry to have had a legally binding collective bargaining agreement imposed upon them by another public body.

Now that statutory recognition/collective bargaining has been granted it means that TPE cannot derecognise us for 3 years and would need to apply to the CAC to request that.

If the CAC does Impose a collective bargaining agreement or “method” upon TPE then it is also highly prescriptive and ties them rigorous bargaining process that any person with any common sense would seek to avoid.

Alan Valentine, TSSA Organiser with Lead responsibility for TransPennine Express said:

“This is incredibly good news for our members within this bargaining group, they have stood strong and waited patiently for common sense to prevail despite being more and more shocked by their employer’s intransigence. Now we need to get on with the task of seeking to agree bargaining arrangements before the deadline from the CAC. Let’s hope the company deal with us and our members in good faith and stop playing silly games with people’s livelihoods! There is a clear model for other groups of Managers in the industry that if they want a voice whether they currently have collective bargaining or not they should join TSSA as the only Union interested in representing their grade!”

Members can encourage their colleagues to Join TSSA with the very easy to remember website link at www.tssa.org.uk/join