TSSA to ballot rail workers for strike action

Rail union TSSA today announces that thousands of members across 13 train operating companies will be balloted for strike action as “some distance” remains in talks with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) over the ongoing national rail dispute. 

The fresh ballots will be confirmed next week with results due by the end of February. A re-ballot is already taking place at Avanti West Coast. 

TSSA is in talks with the RDG this afternoon, but concerns over a lack of offer for management and control staff and inadequate offers for other rail workers persist. TSSA members working in train operating companies took strike action and action short of strike in 2022 in the dispute over job security, pay and conditions across the railway.  

Frank Ward, TSSA Interim General Secretary, said: “This dispute has been unnecessarily prolonged by the government and we are still without an offer for our members in train operating companies.  

“While we welcome the resumption of talks with the RDG, the fact of the matter is that no acceptable offer has been made. We have little indication whether an offer of any kind will apply to management and control staff who make up a significant part of the rail workforce and our TSSA membership. 

“There is some distance between the negotiating teams. Our members are resolute and determined to use their industrial power to secure job security, an acceptable pay rise and protections to their terms and conditions.

"No one wants a race to the bottom or practices that would make our railways less safe or less accessible for passengers, so we are pressing ahead with these ballots.” 

*TSSA is already balloting members in Avanti West Coast, closing on 17 February.  

The union will confirm ballots of members in:  

• Cross Country 
• C2C 
• East Midlands Railway 
• Greater Anglia 
• Great Western Railway  
• GTR
• LNER 
• Northern 
• Southeastern Railway 
• South Western Railway
• TransPennine Express 
• West Midlands Trains 
• The ballot timetables will follow next week (w/c 23 January 2023). 

TSSA has settled with Network Rail