10.11.17
TSSA announces Christmas and New Year Virgin West Coast strike ballot
Members of the TSSA working at Virgin West Coast will be balloted on whether to strike over the Christmas and New Year period.
Union members make up over 400 of the total staff on the service – which connects London with the north west, north Wales and Scotland.
The union says the strike is related to pay for station and carriage staff.
A spokesperson for the organisation said they would not begrudge drivers a “decent” settlement but expected other staff to be equally deserving of increases.
They said: “Richard Branson needs to get involved personally and order an equal pay rise across the board or face a staff that will become divided not just against each other but against him.
“It is not that they want to disrupt either their bosses’ Christmas retreat, or disrupt passengers holiday travel arrangements, but unless he comes out of hiding to help settle this unequal pay round, he will force his staff into stopping trains at Christmas to get his attention.
“The ball is very much in Branson's court. Pay fairly to all your staff face the consequences of being a Scrooge.”
The news comes in the same week as major strikes by the RMT hit five services across the country. Workers at Arriva Rail North, Merseyrail, Southern, Greater Anglia, and South Western & Island Line all walked out for either 24 or 48 hours over disputes on driver-only operated (DOO) trains.
However, this week also saw ASLEF announce the end of its lengthy spat with Southern after the union came to an agreement with GTR on increased pay and similar DOO concerns.
Virgin trains told RTM they would hold off from issuing a response until the result of the ballot was known.
Top image: TSSA
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