Strikes are set to halt London’s Elizabeth Line on Thursday 12 January, with no trains scheduled to run in the central section.
Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) members will walk out on January 12 over a pay dispute and proposed changes to pensions.
This is the first time industrial action has been taken on the flagship Transport for London (TfL) line since it opened in May 2022.
There will be no service between Paddington and Abbey Wood and only skeleton services on the east and west sections of the line.
TSSA Organiser Mel Taylor said: “Our members are rightly taking this action because they are not prepared to be pushed around on pay and pensions.
“We know workers at RfLI are being paid significantly less than equivalent colleagues across the TfL network and that is simply not acceptable.
“Our members have the power to bring the Elizabeth Line to a standstill and that is exactly what will happen as a result of this strike and the lack of a serious offer from TfL.”
With no annual pay rise in three years, TSSA members working for Rail for London Infrastructure) Limited (RFLI) were offered a four percent increase despite inflation running at 11 percent.
Comparatively workers in the outsourced parts of the Elizabeth Line received 8.2 percent and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) 9.25 percent with Taylor calling for this disparity to be addressed to resolve the dispute.
TSSA members will be picketing tomorrow at Romford ROC from 6:30 to 07:30 and 14:30 to 15:30 and Paddington Station from 11:30-12:30.
On December 22 members voted nine to one in favour of strike action and 95 percent in favour of action short of a strike (ASOS) which will continue to run after the strike.
ASOS includes:
- working only contracted hours
- taking of all contractual break entitlements
- ban on out of hours work communication
- ban on undertaking contingency duties arising from industrial action
- no covering of duties and tasks of other roles/grades
- removal of good will
The Elizabeth Line opened on May 24 2022 following completion delays and mounting costs with section connections being made on November 6 last year.
TSSA is an independent trade union for the transport and travel industries with thousands of members across the UK and Ireland.
Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons – Sunil060902 via CC BY-SA 4.0
