West Midlands Trains TSSA Ballot Result

The TSSA ballot of members in West Midlands Trains has now closed.

Over 60% of members who voted were in support of strike action and achieved a voter turnout of over 50%. But members will share the disappointment that the votes in favour of a strike fell short of the 40% turnout threshold required by the anti-trade union laws by less than one vote, at 39.925% of eligible voters returning a valid ballot paper in favour of strike action.

Unfortunately, this means that we cannot legally call out WMT staff to take strike action. This result will serve as an example that the anti-union laws unfairly restrict our democracy and need urgent reform .

More positively, enough of you voted for action short of a strike to meet all necessary thresholds, meaning that we will be able to coordinate official action short of a strike as a means to try to resolve the dispute.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote in this important ballot.

This is the first industrial action ballot among TSSA members in the current industry-wide dispute over pay, job security and terms and conditions. Your TSSA colleagues in other train operators and Network Rail are also being balloted for both strike action and action short of strike with further ballot results due next week.

TSSA leaders are due to take part in further train operator talks so this ballot result comes at an important moment to strengthen our hand in those talks. It sends a message direct to the top of the industry that further disruption and action is on the cards across our rail industry unless employers get real on jobs and pay.

We are liaising closely with our brothers and sisters in other rail unions RMT and Aslef and are engaging with your TSSA WMT reps about next steps and action. We have not served notice for action yet, but rest assured we will keep you updated on all developments. Please speak to your TSSA reps for more information, and thank you again for taking part in this important ballot.

The full results of the ballots are outlined below.

Re: Notice of Result of Ballot under Section 231A of the Trades Union & Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

We confirm that the result of the Ballot is: -

The number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot:  268

The number of votes cast in the ballot:  179

The number of spoiled or otherwise invalid voting papers returned:  7

The number of votes cast in the ballot is at least 50% of the number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot.

QUESTION: Are you prepared to take part in industrial action consisting of a strike?

RESULT OF VOTING:

Numbers voting YES 107                     (62.2% of valid vote)

Numbers voting NO   65                     (37.8% of valid vote)

                                                                  ___________      

                                         TOTAL  172

                                         ________________________( 100% of valid vote)

The number of individuals answering “Yes” to the question is not at least 40% of the number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot.

QUESTION: Are you prepared to take part in industrial action consisting of action short of a strike?

RESULT OF VOTING:

Numbers voting YES 148                     (83.1% of valid vote)

Numbers voting NO   30                     (16.9% of valid vote)

                                                                  ___________      

                                         TOTAL  178

                                         ________________________(100% of valid vote)

The number of individuals answering “Yes” to the question is at least 40% of the number of individuals who were entitled to vote in the ballot.