GWR staff to take industrial action

TSSA members in Great Western Railways will take industrial action short of strike on Saturday 30 July in a move that will affect contingency cover for train drivers’ union Aslef’s strike action that day.

TSSA represents a wide range of staff at GWR, including station and ticket office staff, clerical and admin staff, driver standards managers and other senior roles.

Members voted 81% in favour of taking industrial action short of strike in a ballot which closed this week (13 July).

Action short of a strike will mean members:

• NOT undertaking contingency duties arising from industrial action
• NOT doing out of hours work communication

Manuel Cortes, TSSA General Secretary, said: “We’ve been warning for months now about the possibility of a summer of discontent across our railways unless government and industry leaders took the concerns of staff seriously.

“Sadly, we’ve seen little progress on the fundamental issues of pay, job security and the terms on which people carry out their work. People across our railways are worried about their future – whether they will have a job and whether that job will pay enough for them to meet the soaring cost of living and exploding household bills.

“Our members in GWR will take a stand with train drivers on Saturday 30 July to ensure that they are not forced to cover for striking rail workers. This is solidarity in action. Make no mistake, our union will take more of this action and we are consulting our reps about strike action unless an improved offer on pay, conditions and job security is made.”

The action starts at 00:01 and continues to 23:59 on Saturday 30 July.

The ballot result allows TSSA members to legitimately refuse to carry out contingency duties such as Driving Trains or responding to work communications outside of their normal working hours, whilst still carrying out their normal duties.

About GWR:

GWR runs trains services to and from London Paddington, Didcot Parkway, Bristol Temple Meads, Bristol Parkway, Reading, Swindon, Exeter St Davids, Exeter Central, Taunton, Gloucester, Bath Spa, Westbury, Slough, Redhill, Maidenhead, Newbury, Bridgewater, Cheltenham Spa, Chippenham, Oxford, Par, Penzance, Newton Abbott, Swansea, Westbury, Weston-Super-Mare, Yatton, Totnes, Truro, Worcester Shrub Hill. 

TSSA also has GWR members at Swindon Milford House, Swindon Western House, Swindon Holbrook House, London The Point, London MacMillan House, Bristol Desklodge, Reading Vastern House, Plymouth Laira Depot (engineering managers and maintenance), St Phillips Marsh Depot, Bristol (engineering managers and maintenance), Exeter Depot (engineering managers and maintenance), Penzance Long Rock Depot and Reading Depot. 

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