A rail union has announced strike action on two dates next month, adding to disruption already planned on the network.

The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association -TSSA – has agreed to strike action on 18 and 20 August in seven train operating companies in an industry-wide dispute over pay, job security and conditions.

Strike action will be taken on Avanti West Coast, c2c, East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, LNER, and Southeastern.

Thousands of rail workers spanning station staff, operational, maintenance, supervisory and management staff, will take part in industrial action.

This is the first rail-industry wide industrial action taken by TSSA in more than a generation, the union said.

Read more:
The next rail strike: What you need to know as industrial action continues

Some form of industrial action will take place on West Midlands Trains, Northern, Greater Anglia and TransPennine Express – but this will fall short of full strike action.

The next rail strike: What you need to know as industrial action continues

Two more days of rail strikes announced in row over jobs, pay and conditions

Second rail strike planned for end of July

The RMT union had already announced strike action towards the end of July and in August.

Earlier this summer, an RMT walkout became the largest British rail strike in 30 years.

A TSSA statement said: “This is the first rail-industry wide industrial action taken by TSSA in more than a generation, demonstrating the strength of feeling over pay and job security as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.”

Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of TSSA, said: “This is a momentous day for our members. The Tories’ cost-of-living crisis is the worst in living memory. Essential items like food, energy and clothing costs are going through the roof yet the government has chosen to pick a political fight with rail workers.

“Most of our members are going into a third or fourth year of pay freezes, seeing their real take home pay decrease. For many rail workers in our union this is the first time they have been directly involved in an industrial dispute.

“We do not take strike action lightly, but enough is enough. The Conservative government is the clear block to a deal for rail workers. Grant Shapps must either personally come to the table or empower train operators to reach a deal on pay, job security and conditions.

“Instead of wanting to resolve this dispute, we now see proposals for hundreds of ticket office closures and widespread job cuts across our railways.

“We’ve been warning of a summer of discontent across our railways for months, and sadly it is an ever-closer reality.”

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