TSSA warns of industrial action at Translink

Transport union TSSA is warning of industrial action in a dispute over pay among its members at Ulsterbus and Northern Ireland Railways (operating as Translink). Members are being balloted on the issue, raising the prospect of services being reduced or failing to run at all following the close of ballots on the 16th of June.  

TSSA members taking part in any forthcoming industrial action work across Clerical, Management, Professional & Technical Grades (MPT) and the Northern Ireland Railways Supervisor Grade (including railway controllers).   

Members are being asked whether they support taking industrial action short of a strike and action comprising of a strike. TSSA has been encouraging a yes vote to both questions.   

These disputes relate to the failure to offer a satisfactory pay award for 2024 in the Clerical and MPT grades. TSSA members are unhappy that Translink have offered members a worse deal than other grades within the business which falls well short of achieving parity with pay uplifts across the company. The railway supervisors have a separate dispute regarding their contract based on pay disparity with the grades they supervise.   

 The ballots opened on the 19th May and close at noon on the 16th June 2025.    

Commenting, TSSA General Secretary, Maryam Eslamdoust said: “Our union does not take this step lightly, but we have been left with no choice after other grades in Translink were offered the equivalent of a 5.77 per cent pay increase.   

“We were not asking for anything other than pay equality across the company and for TSSA members to receive the same basic uplift as other grades. Sadly, the offer made by Translink did not meet our members expectations and would only increase the pay inequality that our members have faced in recent years.  

“Therefore, we have been calling on our members to answer yes to both questions and with a strong mandate for industrial action send a clear signal to the Minister for Infrastructure, Liz Kimmins, that she must step in to help resolve this dispute and prevent railways in the north of Ireland grinding to a halt. "  

TSSA represent Clerical, Administrative, Supervisory and Managerial staff in Ulsterbus and NI Railways, as well as Technical staff in NI Railways.