Rail union leaders ‘looking for support’ from Labour as strike announced
Rail union leaders said they were “looking for support” from Labour MPs on the picket line as the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) announced a 24-hour strike next month timed to coincide with the party’s autumn conference.
Thousands of TSSA members who work for Network Rail as well as nine train companies will strike from midday on Monday 26 September until noon the following day, bringing further disruption to Great Britain’s railways in a continued dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
The leader of the TSSA union, Manuel Cortes, said he would be standing on the picket line in Liverpool, where Labour is holding its September conference, and urged those attending to join him.
Cortes said he would be “encouraging fellow delegates and Labour MPs to do likewise, so they can rightly show they stand shoulder to shoulder with those fighting the Tories’ cost of living crisis”.
The TSSA – which is affiliated to Labour – is calling on the government and the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, to allow the train operating companies to go back to the negotiating table.
The union has previously rejected the offer of a 2% pay increase, which it called “insulting”.
The union said it remained in talks with National Rail about a possible settlement but Cortes said he had written in recent days to Shapps and bosses at train companies held by the Department for Transport.
“The reason for the current impasse lies squarely at Shapps’ door and passengers are paying a high price for his incompetence and intransigence,” Cortes said.
“Frankly, he either sits across the negotiating table with our union or gets out of the way to allow railway bosses to freely negotiate with us, as they have done in the past.”
Cortes said the gap between the
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