The long running strike action on the West Midlands Metro has been temporarily suspended following a revised pay offer. Members of Unite the Union who had been taking part in the strike action since mid-October will now be balloted on the revised offer and until the results of this new ballot are known forthcoming strikes will now not take place – although will resume if members reject the new offer.
The exact details of the new offer have not yet been made public but will be an improvement on the previous offer which was on the table. This would have seen the starting salary for tram crew go up to £21,500 (from £19,773) and the salary for those with at least 12 months service would have been £25,250 (from £21,939). At the time of the original ballot in favour of strikes there was an expectation from members of a wage of £27,000. From newspaper reports a further offer on a one off payment of £300 in April 2023 had also been made by Metro management which was rejected outright by Union officials.
A spokesperson from West Midlands Metro said: “Following further talks involving the conciliation service ACAS today, we welcome the union’s decision to suspend industrial action while it ballots members on an enhanced pay offer. This means that a normal service will be in operation from the start of service on Wednesday 16, Thursday 17 and Friday 18 November. We hope that colleagues accept these latest proposals, avoiding any further disruption for our customers.”
Unite Regional Officer, Sulinder Singh, said: “Following an improved pay offer being made yesterday at the conciliation service Acas, as an act of good faith, Unite has suspended the strike action that was scheduled for the rest of this week. Unite’s members will be fully briefed on the latest offer and balloted on it.”
The ballot results should be known by next week.