TSSA Ballot Results at CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway

More than three hundred TSSA members at CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway have voted overwhelmingly for strike action and action short of a strike in results revealed today.

The dispute with the train operators is over pay, job security and conditions with the union also balloting members at Network Rail and other train companies across England (see notes).

*The ballot result at CrossCountry was as follows:

Prepared to take industrial action consisting of a strike -

Yes – 67.6 per cent

No – 32.4 per cent

Turnout was 75.5 per cent

Prepared to take industrial action short of a strike -

Yes - 79.8 per cent

No - 20.2 per cent

Turnout was 75.5 per cent

*The ballot result at East Midlands Railway was as follows:

Prepared to take industrial action consisting of a strike -

Yes - 63.6 per cent

No - 36.4 per cent

Turnout was 71.4 per cent

Prepared to take industrial action short of a strike -

Yes - 79.5 per cent

No - 20.5 per cent

Turnout was 71.4 per cent

Commenting, union General Secretary, Manuel Cortes said: “Well done to all our members at CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway who took part in these ballots. This is a great result for our union and comes hard on the heels of a similar vote at Avanti West Coast.

“The results demonstrate that our members are utterly determined to fight for their pay, jobs and conditions. They are right to do so amid the escalating Tory cost of living crisis and with a government hell bent on making swingeing cuts to our rail network.

“This is a strong outcome and it would be unwise for any rail company to ignore the feelings of our membership. We will soon speak to our workplace Reps to consider next steps in the forthcoming days.

“Ministers should take note - our union is balloting members across a dozen train companies and Network Rail. If they had any sense they would come to the table and sort this out, so we have a fair settlement for workers who were hailed as heroes in the pandemic."

TSSA members serve the public at CrossCountry along the various routes the length of Great Britain from Aberdeen to Penzance.

Members are Customer Service Managers (CSM), Driver Managers (DTM), Trainers, Control, Customer Communications, Safety, Timetabling and Planning. Managers are based at main rail stations on Cross Country routes, including: Edinburgh, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Bournemouth, Plymouth. Other staff are based at Cannon House in Birmingham and the Lamp Block alongside Birmingham New Street station.

Action by CSM, DTM and Control could take out all CrossCountry services.

TSSA members in East Midlands Railway are found working across control, management, customer service, station and revenue protection roles, and include the lowest paid staff earning around £18,000. Staff work across key stations, including London St Pancras, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, and Sheffield, and in the headquarters and control centres based in Derby.