TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes, has written to Boris Johnson saying he would be happy to meet him for talks aimed at averting industrial action across the rail network this summer, but warned that assurances on pay and job security were needed.
The offer comes after comments from Johnson (Monday 23rd May) in which he which urged unions to ‘talk to the government’, suggesting a change of stance.
Via his official spokesman Johnson said there was a need to ‘make sure [the railways are] fit for the future’ with ‘a fair deal for staff, for passengers and taxpayers’.
In response, union boss Cortes said he was ‘happy to meet at the earliest opportunity’ given the pressing need for the Department for Transport to come forward with pay proposals which ‘at least match the hike in the cost of living which our members are experiencing’. The alternative, Cortes said, would be ‘a summer of discontent across our rail network’.
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