TSSA union members accept pay offer at Merseyrail

Union members have accepted a pay offer from Merseyrail which union leaders say is worth 7.1%.

Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) general secretary Manuel Cortes has described it as “a sensible outcome to a reasonable offer”.

TSSA members in Merseyrail include station retailers, customer relations assistants, lead revenue protection officers, train crew admin assistants, driver managers, guards standards managers, stations managers, service production managers, resource controllers and train service delivery managers.

Mr Cortes said: “Well done to our members and to our union staff for clinching this deal at Merseyrail. It is a sensible outcome to a reasonable offer which goes a long way towards keeping pace with the escalating cost of living.

“What we have seen in our negotiations with Merseyrail is a company which knows the value of our rail and transport network, both to the public and the workers.

“What this clearly shows is our union, and sister unions, are in no way a block on finding the solutions needed to avoid a summer of discontent on the railways. Rather, it is the Government who are intent on digging in their heels.

“The offer from Merseyrail will demonstrate to the entire country that ministers are set on a course of needless and nonsensical intransigence which benefits no one.

“Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and co would be wise to wake up and start talking seriously to our union as we ballot for industrial action on our railways up and down the land.”