COMMUTERS will be plunged into travel chaos yet again next month as staff at NINE train companies vote to strike.
Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association union (TSSA) will walk out from midday on September 26 for 24 hours.
The decision, set to impact most of Britain's rail network, is the latest action amid an ongoing dispute over pay, job security and conditions.
Alongside nine train operators, staff at Network Rail will also go on strike.
They are demanding the government come back to the negotiating table to revise what union barons branded an "insulting" 2 per cent pay rise – rejected earlier in the summer.
Union members at TransPennine Express, West Midlands Trains, Avanti West Coast, c2c and CrossCountry are set to strike.
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East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, LNER andSoutheastern will also be impacted by staff walkouts.
In a statement, TSSA union leader Manuel Cortes fumed at the Government for the ongoing dispute with railway workers.
He said: “The dead hand of Grant Shapps is sadly stopping DfT train operating companies from making a revised, meaningful offer.
“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.
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“The reason for the current impasse lies squarely at Shapps’ door and passengers are paying a high price for his incompetence and intransigence.
"I welcome the fact that negotiations are ongoing with Network Rail and the gap towards a resolution is narrowing.
"Time will tell whether a deal can be done to avert our next strike."
The walkout follows a summer of travel misery inflicted on Brits by transport unions as workers demand pay increases amid the soaring cost-of-living crisis.
The RMT union, responsible for the strikes earlier this year, went on strike this month over pay disputes.
Those strikes saw nation's rail networks thrown into chaos on August 18 and August 20 when around 40,000 staff hung up their uniforms.
The strike action followed walkouts on July 27 and July 30.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "The rail industry and the government need to understand that this dispute will not simply vanish."
It came as Mr Lynch's union rejected a Network Rail offer of eight per cent on pay over two years, discounted travel, a bonus and no compulsory redundancies.
At the time, Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail said: "By announcing even more strike dates, the RMT has dropped any pretence that this is about reaching a deal."
This action followed fury from members of union Aslef which saw eight rail firms vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike action over pay.
The train drivers voted by about nine to one in favour of strikes on turnouts of over 85 per cent.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said they had been forced into action as they had not had a salary rise since 2019.
The rail network saw widescale disruption in June, 2022, after 40,000 RMT union members at 13 train companies and Network Rail went on strike.
Cabinet Minister James Cleverly accused the rail unions of “holding the country hostage” amid ongoing strike action.
Tory MP Greg Smith, who sits on the Transpirt Select Committee, previously told The Sun: “The hard left unions need to wake up and realise the damage they are doing to the country.
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"Which will ultimately damage their own jobs.
"If they continue to drive people away from the railways, there will be no railways left to work for.”
PAY DAY
How much are rail workers paid?
These are the Office of National Statistics’ median salary figures for five different categories of workers:
- Rail travel assistants – £33,310 – includes ticket collectors, guards and information staff
- Rail construction and maintenance operatives – £34,998 – they lay and repair tracks
- Rail transport operatives – £48,750 – includes signallers and drivers’ assistants
- Train and tram drivers – £59,189
- Workers who build and repair engines and carriages – £46,753
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