Strike chaos: TSSA announces more railway staff will walk out ahead of Christmas
Thousands more railway station staff are set to walk out this month, as union bosses and ministers held talks at Parliament yesterday.
The TSSA union served notice for strike action in a further six train operating companies and Network Rail yesterday, meaning thousands more workers will walk out on 17 December.
This takes the number of companies impacted by the industrial action from the union – which represents administrative, managerial, professional and technical workers in the railway industry – to nine.
It comes as more than 40,000 members of the RMT union are set to strike on December 13, 14, 16 and 17 and on January 3, 4, 6 and 7, across Network Rail and 14 train operators.
After yesterday’s announcement, there will be strike action on 17 December across Avanti West Coast, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Network Rail (Bands 5-8 and Controllers), Southeastern, South Western Railway (SWR), TransPennine Express (TPE) and West Midlands Trains (WMT).
Yesterday, railway minister Huw Merriman hosted further crisis talks in the Houses of Parliament, between bosses.
Luke Chester, TSSA organising director, said the union’s members “are fed up of being treated with contempt by employers and government alike.”
“We’ve sat through hundreds of hours of talks and have moved mountains to make progress on modernisation details, staffing and jobs, he said.