Another rail union has joined the upcoming strike action in August, adding to a 'summer of discontent' for the UK. The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) is the latest to make the move amid the worsening dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
Members of the TSSA at seven train companies will walk out on August 18 and 20, the same days as the Rail, Maritime and Transport union is striking against Network Rail and 14 train operators. The TSSA said thousands of its members – including station staff, operational, maintenance, supervisory and management staff – will take part in industrial action, reports PA.
Strike action will be taken at Avanti West Coast, c2c, East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, LNER, and Southeastern. Action short of a strike will be taken at West Midlands Trains, Northern, Greater Anglia, TransPennine Express and Southeastern.
TSSA has held off on serving notice for industrial action at Network Rail in order to hold 11th hour talks over pay, job security and conditions. There is still time to serve notice for action on August 18 and 20 if these talks are unsuccessful.
Manuel Cortes, TSSA general secretary, said: “This is a momentous day for our members. The 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.
“Transport Secretary 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.”
