Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) have voted to accept a pay offer from the train companies and will be stopping their strike action.
The TSSA has been in dispute since the summer of 2022 and says that it has now won an improved deal on salaries offering a 9% to 13% pay rise over two years, as well as commitments on job security and full consultation over any possible changes to terms and conditions.
The union had previously accepted an offer from Network Rail for those staff, and now its 3,000 members working for the train companies have also accepted the offer made to them.
The union says that the ballot, which closed at lunchtime today, saw an overwhelming majority of 80% of management grade and 60% of general grade members vote to accept the offers. This was on an overall return of 57% of affected members voting.
A TSSA spokesperson said: “The incredible resolve we have seen from our members has resulted in a significantly improved pay deal over two years, commitments for no compulsory redundancies, improved opportunities for redeployment, as well as full consultation over proposed reforms to ticket offices and any changes to terms and conditions.”
The TSSA is the smaller of the big three unions in the rail dispute, leaving ASLEF and the RMT still negotiating. The RMT mainly covers Network Rail signallers, while ASLEF dominates the train drivers — so the ongoing strikes will still cause significant disruption.
As for the TSSA though, it says that negotiations with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) on behalf of the train companies secured two offers that its members have now accepted.
TSSA members in general and management grades will be eligible to receive a backdated pay rise of 5% increase for 2022 and a 4% rise for 2023, with those on the lowest pay grades being offered a minimum of £1750, or an increase of over 13% in 2022/23 pay packets.
They’ve also negotiated no compulsory redundancies of employees within the grades directly affected by the Workforce Changes from the date of the agreement until the end of next year.
The TSSA says that continues to oppose the proposed closures of ticket offices.
The union says that it will enter into discussions with employers on the detail of implementing all the principles and commitments contained in the settlement.
Steve Montgomery, Chair of the Rail Delivery Group, said: “This is a positive breakthrough which shows these disputes can be resolved when members are given an opportunity to have their say in a democratic vote. TSSA members have sent a clear message that they welcome this fair offer, which means that those on the lowest pay are now eligible for a rise of over 13%, with all grades receiving at least a 9% rise in their 2022/23 pay packets.
“We hope that the RMT leadership will take this opportunity to reconsider their rejection of our equivalent offer, call off their unnecessary and disruptive strikes and allow their members a referendum on their own deal.”
The train companies involved in the scope of the new offer are:
- Avanti West Coast
- C2C
- Chiltern Railways
- Cross Country
- East Midlands Railway
- Govia Thameslink Railway
- Greater Anglia
- Great Northern
- Great Western Railway (GWR)
- London North Eastern Railway (LNER)
- Northern Trains
- Southeastern
- Southern
- South Western Railway
- Thameslink
- Trans Pennine Express
- West Midlands Trains.
