Passengers on West Midlands Trains are being advised to travel only if they must between 21 and 23 May, because of industrial action by members of TSSA.

The dispute is about payments for rest day working, which the union says are not in line with the pay for members of other unions.

TSSA balloted over 100 roster clerks, duty train crew managers and control staff, and their absence during the walkouts is expected to disrupt train services.

The roster clerks are set to strike for 24 hours on 21 May, while duty train crew managers and control staff are expected to strike, also for 24 hours, from 12.00 on the 22nd.

TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: ‘As things stand these strikes will go ahead as planned because the company is simply refusing to give our members parity with those in other unions.  

‘That is an intolerable situation, especially given the fact these are modest demands. Our reps at West Midlands Trains have consulted the membership and they remain determined to proceed with their legitimate action.

‘It’s now up to the company to come to their senses and stop these walkouts. Our union remains open to further discussions and only takes strike action as a last resort.’

WMT managing director Ian McConnell said: ‘We encourage TSSA to continue talks with us to reach a resolution to this dispute.

‘We are doing all we can to minimise the impact as far as possible and apologise to customers for the inconvenience.

‘However, where services are running, we advise customers to only travel if necessary and to allow more time for their journey.’

WMT. which operates as West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway, was renationalised on 1 February.

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