Managers at rail organisation Cross Country are to receive a 3.3% pay increase, backdated to May 2017.
The pay rise, which will be effective from February’s pay packet, was confirmed after Cross Country managers who are not covered by collective bargaining, organised industrial action with trade union Transport Salaries Staffs’ Association (TSSA).
TSSA state that the strike action was originally planned in response to a 1% pay increase that was offered to part of Cross Country’s manager population, while the remainder of the organisation’s managers were awarded a 3.3% pay increase. The planned industrial action aimed to achieve an equal pay rise for all managers employed at Cross Country.
TSSA initially gave notice for strike action on Friday 26 January 2018, after 71% of members voted in favour of industrial action. There was a 78% turnout for the member ballot.
Cross Country agreed to the 3.3% pay rise on Wednesday 17 January 2018, mitigating strike action. Its HR director, Jo McPhail, confirmed this in a letter to TSSA.
Manuel Cortes, general secretary at TSSA, said: “Congratulations are due to all managers who stood together and refused to allow the [organisation] to award them a divisive deal.
“If the [organisation] had done the right thing in the first place and awarded equal pay settlements all round, our members would have been spared a lot of anxiety and wouldn’t have been driven to [vote] overwhelmingly for industrial action. I hope the [organisation] has learned [its] lesson. Don't take any part of [the] workforce for granted.”
Cross Country is unavailable for comment at time of publication.
