Another rail strike could be on its way as staff working for CrossCountry prepare to vote on taking industrial action.
Employees who are members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) will begin voting early next week on a proposal to strike over pay, conditions and job security issues. It is separate from the RMT strike set for three days in June.
The TSSA members include 132 CrossCountry employees based at stations on the line, which connects Newcastle, Alnmouth, Berwick, Morpeth, Chester-le-Street and Durham with destinations including Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, York, Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Plymouth and Cornwall.
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A further 169 members working for East Midlands Trains across control, management, customer service, station and revenue protection roles are also being balloted. They will be joined by 269 members working for West Midlands Trains in commuter stations in the Birmingham area.
TSSA members will vote between June 16 and July 7. A strike could be timed for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, to be held between July 28 and August 8, the union warns.
TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “Our members at CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains and West Midlands Trains deserve a pay rise and job security.
“These companies need to face the concerns of their staff and tell their paymasters in government that widespread rail disruption is on the cards.
“Rail workers are seeking basic fair treatment, not to be sacked from their jobs, a fair pay rise in the face of a cost-of-living-crisis, and no race to the bottom on terms and conditions.
“Unless these demands are met, we could be seeing a summer of discontent across our railways in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games which take place in Birmingham – the centre of many of these train operators’ services.
“We are preparing for all options, including co-ordinated strike action which would bring trains to a halt.”
RMT union members are due to walk out in the biggest rail strike for decades on June 21, June 23 and June 25.
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