In November, thousands of railway workers began a new strike, arguing over pay and working conditions

Members of the Association of Transport Wage Workers who work in Network railwaywhich looks after the infrastructure of the railway network, will strike on November 3, 5 and 7.

Other members of Art unionrepresenting employees of ticket offices, stations, control rooms and auxiliary persons working in individual railway companies, will hold strikes on November 3, 4, 7 and 8.

Members of five rail companies, South Western Rail, Southeastern, West Midlands Trains, Northern and Great Western, will take action other than strike action throughout November, with a sixth company, TransPennine Express, joining them from 7 November.

TSSA demands guarantees of no compulsory redundancies, pay rises commensurate with the cost of living crisis and no uncoordinated changes to conditions.

TSSA General Secretary Manuel Cortes said: “Our members never take industrial action lightly.

“We would prefer to find a just solution to this long-standing dispute through negotiations, but we simply have no choice.

“A huge number of railway workers in our union, many of whom are our long-standing members, have never been directly involved in a labor dispute until this year.

“On our railways, our members have recently stepped up again and gone the extra mile to meet unprecedented demand during a period of public mourning, to provide extra services and keep the public safe, just as they did during the pandemic.

“They have proven their worth time and time again, but are still underrated.

“When the dust settles around the coronation of Rishi Sunak, I hope that whoever he appoints as the new Secretary of State for Transport will see sense, unlike Grant Shapps, and use his powers to establish fair pay rises, reasonable conditions and an end to this dispute

“It is time that train operators were allowed to meet us at the table and discuss a fair solution.”

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “This is incredibly disappointing.

“Through no fault of their own, people across the country will once again have their daily lives disrupted, unable to attend work, school or important doctor’s appointments.

“Our railway is in desperate need of modernisation, but more strikes will take it back to the dark ages and push passengers further away.

“We are calling on union bosses to reconsider these divisive actions and instead work with employers, not against them, to agree a new way forward.”

It comes after thousands of union members walked off the job – often in protest at wage proposals they say are out of step with the cost-of-living crisis.

Members of a separate union of railway workers – art RMT – are also at the center of a bitter dispute over pay and conditions with walkouts planned for November 3 and 5 to coincide with strikes on the same days by RMT members on Network Rail, London Underground and London Underground.

Royal Mail workers will go on strike again on Tuesday in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions with the Communications Workers Union (CWU), which is planning further strikes in the coming weeks.

More than 70,000 staff at 150 universities could go on strike after union members voted to do so.

The Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) said Monday’s vote was a clear indication of staff anger over pay, conditions and pensions.

UCU, which represents a large number of academicians, teachers, researchers, managers, administrators and other staff, has now called on the vice-chancellors to start negotiations to avoid disruption.