Fresh strikes announced by West Coast Line railway workers in Lancashire

The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association has announced further strike action in September across Avanti West Coast in an escalation of the ongoing dispute over pay, job security and conditions.

The action will cover the period from 00:01 to 23:59 on Thursday, September 15, and Saturday, September 17, with TSSA members in station grades at Avanti West Coast asked not to turn up for work during this period. This latest strike dates are set to align with industrial action announced by the RMT union also on 15 and 17 September.

The latest announcement follows the news last week that TSSA staff from nine train operators including Northern and Transpennine, will strike for 24 hours on September 26.

The move comes after the union wrote to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and thirteen train operating companies last week to express concern over the lack of meaningful negotiations following over five thousand TSSA members walking out on strike on Thursday, August 18, and Saturday 20 August, the biggest TSSA strike in a generation.

TSSA are seeking for its members a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies, a pay rise which meets the cost-of-living crisis and no unagreed changes to terms and conditions.

General Secretary, Manuel Cortes, said: “Our members do not want to strike. But the only people who can move this dispute forward, Grant Shapps and the Train Operating Companies, are refusing to meet us at the negotiating table.

“It is extremely frustrating that these companies are refusing to comply with these long-established means of resolving issues between workers and their employer.

“Our union is committed to finding a negotiated settlement in this dispute which works for our members and for our passengers and our taxpayers alike.

"But if Shapps will not work with us or give Train Operating Companies the mandate to find a suitable resolution, our members will be forced to take industrial action until they are listened to.”