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Press Release
10 May 2004
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10 May 2004
NETWORK RAIL HAS LAST CHANCE TO AVOID INDUSTRIAL ACTION - TSSA
TSSA, Britain's second largest rail union, is urging Network Rail (NR) to return to the negotiating table to avoid industrial action.
The union announced today [Monday] that a survey of 2,000 members in NR had left it with a clear mandate for industrial action.
But it added that it was holding back on issuing a legal ballot for industrial action as it wanted to give NR one last chance to sit down to negotiate seriously about future of the pension scheme.
The dispute centres on the implementation of a money purchase pension scheme to replace the final salary pension scheme in NR, as well as a pay offer of three per cent, and travel facilities. TSSA represents 2,000 non-management staff in the company who are affected by the dispute.
TSSA has not taken national industrial action on the railway since the General Strike in 1926.
TSSA General Secretary Gerry Doherty commented: "Network Rail is drinking in the last chance saloon.
"This survey demonstrates how unhappy our members are and that they are willing to back this up with action. We urge Network Rail to sit down with us and negotiate seriously about the options for keeping their final salary scheme open.
"The last thing that TSSA and its members want to do is to take action and cause disruption to passengers. Our record on taking action proves this. But Network Rail's high-handed attitude has left us with no choice.
"It is ludicrous that, whilst the Government introduces legislation to encourage employers to provide good quality pensions and individuals to save more effectively for their retirement, Network Rail, funded by public money, is closing a final salary scheme which does both.
"TSSA is not going to stand back and watch the erosion of the terms and conditions of rail staff. It is our responsibility to protect standards within the rail industry for future generations of rail workers."
ends
For further information, please contact:
Mike Katz, Head of Communications (020) 7529 8033 or 07956
925969 (mobile)
Notes to Editors
1. TSSA has 2,000 members in Network Rail affected by this dispute. These are mainly non-operational administrative and clerical staff, as well as station staff at large stations run by NR and operational staff such as Electrical Control Room Operators (ECROs) and Signalling Supervisors. TSSA also represents a further 2,000 managers in Network Rail who are not part of these negotiations.
2. 37% of members returned responses in the survey. Over half of these indicated that they were willing to take some form of industrial action, with 57% of those preferring to take action short of a strike. This was not a formal ballot required by legislation; it has been taken, together with the views of workplace reps, to reflect the views of TSSA's membership.
3. Given the nature of their work, non-strike industrial action, such as working to rule or an overtime ban could be more disruptive to Network Rail's ongoing ability to run the rail network than a strike, by limiting the organisation's ability to cover staff absence.
4. Network Rail closed its final salary (defined benefit) pension scheme to new entrants on 1 April 2004. In its place it is offering a money purchase (defined contribution) scheme, reliant on the fortunes of the stock market. Under this new scheme, the maximum contribution that Network Rail will make to employee's pensions is 7%. In the final salary scheme, they currently contribute 12%.
5. In total, TSSA represents 33,000 members in administrative, clerical, managerial, professional and technical jobs in the railways, buses, the London Underground, the travel trade, canals, ports and ferries, and road haulage.