As the dialogue between rail unions, the employers and the Department for Transport becomes increasingly acrimonious, a wide range of industrial action has been announced by white-collar staff.
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) has called both stoppages and action short of a strike across Network Rail and a dozen train operating companies.
The action is over pay, job security and conditions.
A walk-out by staff at Avanti West Coast has been called to coincide with the already announced stoppages by members of the RMT union. They will strike in two 48-hour blocks: 13-14 and 16-17 December.
The TSSA says the staff involved work “in a range of operational, station, revenue, on-board and management roles”.
The stoppages on Avanti West Coast will follow on immediately after a 48-hour RMT strike on Sunday 11 and Monday 12 December.
Staff on c2c, which runs between the City of London and south Essex, will walk out on 17 December – coinciding with the final day of RMT national action before Christmas.
The action short of a strike begins on 13 December. It involves members working for Network Rail and 11 train operators carrying out “only contractually required duties”. The union says: “TSSA members will not cover the duties of other rail workers who may be involved in strike action.”
The operators involved are Cross Country, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, GTR, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.
People look at departure information screens at Euston railway station during the August rail strikes
(REUTERS)
It will run from 13 December “until the end of current ballot mandates”, most of which end in January.
The TSSA remains in talks with Network Rail, but talks with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), acting on behalf of train operators, broke down on Tuesday. The union says “the RDG revealed it has no authority to discuss pay and grading”.
The organising director for the TSSA, Luke Chester, said:“We have decided to push ahead with further industrial action because it’s vital that the train companies and the government understand that our demands are not going away.
“Our union has spent the past three weeks in talks and though some progress has been made it remains the case that ministers are just not willing…
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