Industrial Action Diary, GWR, September 2022

[whole diary]

[grahame]

15 September
Strike Action: Aslef, RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers), Unite
Action short of a strike: TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about)

17 September
Strike Action: RMT, Unite
Action short of a strike: TSSA

26/27 September
Strike Action: TSSA

Details at https://news.gwr.com/news/railway-strikes-on-gwr-to-severely-impact-school-trains

[IndustryInsider]

More accurate than an internal email which stated ALSEF were also striking on 17th September! 

[grahame]

Dear Graham
 
We were in touch earlier this week about the rail strikes taking place next week, on Thursday (15 September) and Saturday (17 September).  There will also be a strike by TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) (office staff and managers) for 24 hours from midday on Monday 26th September to midday on Tuesday 27th September.
 
The strike on Thursday 15th September involves ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) (train drivers), RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) (on board and station staff, and Network Rail signallers) and Unite (depot teams) and on Saturday 17th September, RMT, Unite, & some TSSA members of Network Rail will be on strike. On both days, there will be no service on the majority of our network. We will run a very limited service on the routes listed on our dedicated strike webpage here: https://www.gwr.com/strike .
 
Our advice to customers is to check before travel and only travel if absolutely necessary. Disruption is also expected on Friday 16th September, and there will also be some changes to services on Sunday 18th September, including potentially some short-notice cancellations. Trains that do travel across the strike period will be very busy. To help with this tickets for travel from 15th-18th September will also be valid on 19th and 20th September.
 
Journey planners are being updated as soon as possible and where we can we are contacting customers directly to make them aware of the changes. Any help you can give to share this message amongst your networks will be gratefully received, we want to ensure that anyone who is thinking of travelling by train next week is aware of the severe disruption.
 
As ever, if there is anything we can do to help, please just get in touch.
 
Best wishes
 
Jane Jones
Head of Public Affairs, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)
 
Toby Elliott
Head of Communications, Network Rail Western

[ChrisB]

Hmmm - Saturday 17. from that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) strike link -

between London Paddington and Bristol Parkway, Cardiff Central and Plymouth via Bristol Temple Meads

Ambiguous? Does this mean those services ALL go via BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)? With the Cardiff's going via BRI (reverse) & BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) (reverse again)

Or does that mean these services are actually PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) - Cardiff Central via BPW and other services PAD - Plymouth via BRI?

[plymothian]

Hmmm - Saturday 17. from that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) strike link -

between London Paddington and Bristol Parkway, Cardiff Central and Plymouth via Bristol Temple Meads

Ambiguous? Does this mean those services ALL go via BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)? With the Cardiff's going via BRI (reverse) & BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) (reverse again)

Or does that mean these services are actually PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) - Cardiff Central via BPW and other services PAD - Plymouth via BRI?

1 tph Paddington - Cardiff (route undefined)
1 tph Paddington - Bristol PW^▸ (Permanent Way)
1 tph Paddington - Bristol TM^‡(resolve) every other train on to Plymouth
1 tph Bristol - Exeter or Plymouth (suggests alternation between a PAD - PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains) and a BRI - EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains))
1 tph Cardiff - Bath
1 tph Reading - Basingstoke
1 tph Marlow - Maidenhead
1 tph Reading - Didcot PW
2 tph Slough - Windsor
2 tph Henley - Twyford

Westbury, Gloucester and all Cornish signalboxes will be closed

[ChrisB]

And OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) desk at TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about) which is a first time

[plymothian]

Strikes have been postponed due to today's events.

[Timmer]

In light of today’s sad news, next week’s rail strikes have been suspended:

https://twitter.com/RMTunion/status/1567931306838728704?s=20&t=m2rLApFviqtxqnsp1C1hkQ

https://twitter.com/ASLEFunion/status/1567951729987321856?t=vVpc_dxHlaTPnLpTfTV8nQ&s=19

[ChrisB]

Lets hope everyone can still be rostered and a full service run. But kudos for postponing

[grahame]

Strikes have been postponed due to today's events.

I have seen RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) announcements - is that confirmed for ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about), Unite and the TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) too?  Does the suspension include the TSSA action on 26th/27th, or does that remain in place?

[Timmer]

I have seen RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) announcements - is that confirmed for ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about), Unite and the TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) too?  Does the suspension include the TSSA action on 26th/27th, or does that remain in place?

https://twitter.com/TSSAunion/status/1567948018732744704?cxt=HHwWgIC-rc2avMIrAAAA

https://twitter.com/ASLEFunion/status/1567951729987321856?cxt=HHwWgIDUrdDyvcIrAAAA

[ChrisB]

Still on the TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) website

TSSA General Grades (Bands 5-8) and Controllers will take strike action in Network Rail as well as Avanti West Coast, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about), Southeastern, TransPennine Express and WMT from midday on Monday 26 until midday Tuesday 27 September.

[grahame]

Thanks, Timmer and ChrisB.  I will update the diary later today once we have clarification on 26th/27th and have heard from Unite who, I suspect, will not carry on alone.

[ChrisB]

The Evening Standard is reporting

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about)) also called off planned strikes. A statement said: “Upon the news that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth has died, TSSA union expresses deepest condolences to her family, friends, the country and those affected by her passing.

“TSSA is cancelling planned industrial action for September and will be respecting the period of public mourning. The union pays respect to Britain’s longest-serving monarch.”