TSSA members to walk out on strike across rail industry tomorrow

Thousands of TSSA members across the rail industry will take strike action and action short of strike tomorrow (Thursday) and Saturday in an ongoing dispute over pay, job security and conditions. This will be the first day of nationwide, multi-operator strike action by TSSA members in a generation.

TSSA members in Network Rail and 11 train operators are taking industrial action in the dispute. The action includes staff working in ticket offices, stations, control rooms, engineering, as well as planning, timetabling and other support roles.

TSSA members will take strike action at: Avanti West Coast, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, LNER and Southeastern on 18 and 20 August.

TSSA members will take industrial action short of a strike at: Greater Anglia, Northern, TransPennine Express, West Midlands Trains and Southeastern (in addition to strike action at Southeastern) on and around 18 and 20 August – exact details on our website.

TSSA is seeking guarantees of:

• no compulsory redundancies,
• a pay rise in line with the cost of living, and
• promises of no unilateral alterations to job terms and conditions.

A deal was struck two weeks ago avoiding action being taken by Network Rail management grades, but no improved offers on pay or job security have been made for grades 5-8, or for staff elsewhere across the rail industry.

Pickets

TSSA will have picket lines at train station, office and depot locations across Britain. Key picket locations include London Euston, London Puddle Dock, London Paddington, Swindon, York, Cardiff and Glasgow.

Details of industrial action and picket lines is provided in full below and on our website.

TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes said: “Our members in the rail industry are going into the third or fourth year of a pay freeze. Meanwhile food and fuel bills are spiralling, and the Tory cost-of-living crisis is making working people poorer. Enough is enough - this cannot go on. 

“For lots of our members, this is the first time they have ever taken industrial action – it is a last resort and not something any rail worker takes lightly. Railway workers put their lives at risk to keep the country running in the pandemic and were rightly hailed as heroes. Yet now the Tories are hampering negotiations and blocking employers from making a reasonable offer to those same rail workers.

“Grant Shapps and the Department for Transport need to make a reasonable offer on pay and job security – either by coming to the table themselves or allowing employers to negotiate freely. The string pulling and blocking negotiations must stop. 

“This dispute is not going away. Thousands of rail workers across the country are experiencing real terms pay cuts as inflation skyrockets and the cost of living keeps rising. Like everyone else our members just want to be able to turn the heating on this winter. We will not back down until our members have won the pay, conditions and job security they deserve.”

ENDS

TSSA members will take strike action at Avanti West Coast, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, LNER and Southeastern on 18 and 20 August.

TSSA members will be taking industrial action short of a strike at West Midlands Trains, Northern, Greater Anglia, and TransPennine Express on, and around those dates.

• Avanti West Coast: station grades will not attend work between 00:01 and 23:59 on Thursday 18 August and between 00:01 and 23:59 on Saturday 20 August
• c2c: will not attend work between 00:01 and 23:59 on Thursday 18 August and between 00:01 and 23:59 on Saturday 20 August
• CrossCountry: will not attend work between 00:01 and 23:59 on Thursday 18 August and between 00:01 and 23:59 on Saturday 20 August
• East Midlands Railway: will not attend work between 00:01 and 23:59 on Thursday 18 August and between 00:01 and 23:59 on Saturday 20 August
• Great Western Railway: will not attend work between 00:01 and 23:59 on Thursday 18 August and between 00:01 and 23:59 on Saturday 20 August
• LNER: will not attend work between 00:01 and 23:59 on Thursday 18 August and between 00:01 and 23:59 on Saturday 20 August
• Southeastern: will not attend work between 00:01 and 23:59 on Thursday 18 August and between 00:01 and 23:59 on Saturday 20 August.  
• Network Rail General Grades 5-8 and Controllers: do not commence work between: 02:01 on Thursday 18th August to 01:59 on Friday 19th August and 02:01 on Saturday 20th August to 01:59 on Sunday 21st August.

You can find details of our picket lines here.