TSSA members to strike across railways

TSSA has today served notice for strike action and action short of strike in 11 train operating companies in an industry-wide dispute over pay, job security and conditions.

Thousands of rail workers spanning station staff, operational, maintenance, supervisory and management staff, will take part in industrial action on 18 and 20 August.

This is the first rail-industry wide industrial action taken by TSSA in more than a generation, demonstrating the strength of feeling over pay and job security as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.

Strike action will be taken on 18 and 20 August in: Avanti West Coast, c2c, East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, LNER, and Southeastern.

Action short of strike will be taken in: West Midlands Trains, Northern, Greater Anglia, TransPennine Express and Southeastern.

Check the details of types of industrial action short of strike and specific times and dates for each company. 

TSSA is re-balloting members for strike action in West Midlands Trains, Northern, Greater Anglia and TransPennine Express. Those members will take action short of strike in this first collective day of industrial action by TSSA members.

TSSA has held off on serving notice for industrial action in Network Rail in order to hold eleventh hour talks over pay, job security and conditions. There is still time to serve notice for action on 18 and 20 August if these talks are unsuccessful.

Manuel Cortes, TSSA General Secretary, said: “This is a momentous day for our members. They Tories’ cost-of-living crisis is the worst in living memory. Essential items like food, energy and clothing costs are going through the roof yet the government has chosen to pick a political fight with rail workers.

“Most of our members are going into a third or fourth year of pay freezes, seeing their real take home pay decrease. For many rail workers in our union this is the first time they have been directly involved in an industrial dispute.

“We do not take strike action lightly, but enough is enough. The Conservative government is the clear block to a deal for rail workers. Grant Shapps must either personally come to the table or empower train operators to reach a deal on pay, job security and conditions.

“Instead of wanting to resolve this dispute, we now see proposals for hundreds of ticket office closures and widespread job cuts across our railways.

“We’ve been warning of a Summer of discontent across our railways for months, and sadly it is an ever-closer reality.”