Strikes which had been set to cause major disruption across the London Trams network during July have been cancelled after members of Unite the Union voted to accept a new pay deal which could see some enjoy a pay increase of up to 20%.
The dispute had been ongoing since earlier this year and been centered on how engineers working for London Trams earned significantly less than those in similar positions on the London Underground. There was also a further issue regarding their contracts in that they were considered as office workers and so could not negotiate independently.
It had originally been planned that strikes would take place in March but these were suspended after the promise of talks between the union and TfL. However, these broke down with Unite accusing TfL of not going in with the right intentions – something which was denied by the operator. As a result strikes did start in May and then resumed again in July, with extended action having been scheduled affecting travel to and from the Wimbledon tennis championships.
These latest strikes got underway as planned on Sunday 30th June and were due to continue until Monday 8th July before another set of action started on Thursday 11th July and due to run until Monday 15th July.
But talks were continuing in the background and it was confirmed on Tuesday 2nd July that an agreement had been reached and that a service would resume from the following day – but with the caveat that it wouldn’t be possible for a full service as trams would require maintenance before being ready to run again.
The new deal agreed will help to close the pay disparity between engineers on London Trams and London Underground, seeing some engineering grades receiving an uplift of up to 20%. It also resolves long running contractual and holiday pay issues. The deal was accepted in a ballot of engineers.
Speaking about the new deal, Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary, said: “Congratulations to the London Trams engineers who secured this deal by standing together in their union and taking strike action. This is yet another example of how Unite’s laser-like focus on defending and improving jobs, pay and conditions is delivering for our members.”