TSSA members vote for strike action at West Midlands Trains and TransPennine Express

Hundreds of TSSA members at TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in results revealed today. 

The dispute with the train operators is over pay, job security and conditions, with the union also in dispute at Network Rail and other train companies across England. 

TSSA is not naming dates for any industrial action today but will now consider next steps with workplace reps. 

The ballot result at West Midlands Trains was as follows - 

Prepared to take industrial action consisting of a strike - 

Yes – 70.3 per cent 

No – 29.7 per cent 

Turnout was 64.9 per cent 

The ballot result at TransPennine Express was as follows - 

Prepared to take industrial action consisting of a strike - 

Yes – 72.3 per cent 

No – 27.7 per cent 

Turnout was 66.2 per cent 

Commenting, TSSA General Secretary Manuel Cortes said: “Well done to all our members who took part in these ballots. These are great results for our union and again 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 chaotic government hell bent on making swingeing cuts to our rail network while inflation rages. 

“We will soon speak to our workplace Reps to consider next steps in the forthcoming days. 

 “If Ministers 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." 

*Impact at Trans Pennine Express (TPE) 

TPE runs train between the major cities and towns of Northern England and Scotland. The routes provide rail links to major towns and cities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Sheffield, Hull, Leeds, Newcastle and York. 

TSSA has TPE members at stations in Grimsby, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester Middlesborough and York. 

TSSA members are found in a number of roles, including Driver Managers, Duty Managers, Duty Station Managers as well as in Fleet Delivery, Station Team Leaders, Conductors, Customer Service Advisors and Incident Controllers. 

*Impact at West Midlands Trains 

TSSA members at West Midlands Trains include control staff, Duty Train Crew Managers, Driver Managers, Senior Conductor Managers (on board staff responsible for guards), station management and duty station management, as well as HQ staff at Birmingham Edmund St working on planning, heads of dept etc. 

TSSA members work out of Birmingham commuter stations, including: Birmingham New Street, Birmingham Snow Hill, Bletchley, Coventry, Kidderminster, Rugby, Northampton, Tamworth, Wolverhampton, Walsall. Control staff work from the Saltley (Birmingham) centre and Rugby. 

The last time these staff had a pay rise was 2020.