UK faces more rail strike hell this summer as TSSA union calls for walkouts at seven train firms on August 18 and 20
- BREAKING: More to follow
The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) has called for strikes across seven separate train operating companies on August 18 and 20 in the latest dispute over pay, job security and working conditions, the union has announced.
They are the same days as the Rail, Maritime and Transport union is striking against Network Rail and 14 train operators, throwing Britain’s public transport network into chaos.
The TSSA said thousands of its members – including station staff, operational, maintenance, supervisory and management staff – will take part in industrial action.
Strike action will be taken in Avanti West Coast, c2c, East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, LNER, and Southeastern.
Action short of strike will be taken in West Midlands Trains, Northern, Greater Anglia, TransPennine Express and Southeastern.
TSSA has held off on serving notice for industrial action in Network Rail in order to hold 11th hour talks over pay, job security and conditions.
But the union stressed that there is still time to serve notice for action on August 18 and 20 if these talks are unsuccessful.
It comes as Britain faces another pair of RMT and TSSA strikes on Wednesday and Saturday this week which will see 16 different operators run a dramatically reduced service, while Scotrail announced hundreds of cancellations across its service.
Manuel Cortes, TSSA general secretary, hit out at the cost of living crisis and Conservative leadership in a statement defending the decision to strike.
The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) has called for strikes across seven separate train operating companies on August 18 and 20 in the latest dispute over pay, job security and working conditions (Manuel Cortes of the TSSA is pictured)
TSSA strike action will come on August 18 and 20, they same days the Rail, Maritime and Transport union is striking against Network Rail and 14 train operators, throwing Britain’s public transport network into chaos (pictured: passengers wait at Paddington station in London amid train service disruptions)
Cortes 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.’
TSSA Gen. Sec. Cortes told Transport Secretary Grant Shapps (pictured) to personally come to the table to negotiate or empower train operators to reach a deal on pay, job security and conditions
Cortes said: ‘We’ve been warning of a Summer of discontent across our railways for months, and sadly it is an ever-closer reality’ (pictured: Waterloo station, London)
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