There will be no further strikes on the West Midlands Metro after member of Unite the Union voted to accept a revised pay offer made earlier this week. As we’ve reported before, the dispute had centred over pay with negotiations previously unable to reach an agreement which both parties could sign up to.
The despite first kicked off during the summer when Unite the Union balloted their members over what they claimed were “poverty” wages. They alleged that West Midlands Metro workers were paid less than their counterparts at other light rail networks in the country. For their part West Midlands Metro said they had benchmarked wages against similar networks in the UK.
A pay offer was made public ahead of strike dates being announced and this would have seen experienced tram crew receive an increase in wages from £21,939 to £25,250 whilst those with less than a years service would have gone from £19,773 to £21,500. This did not meet expectations of the union with £27,000 said to be the level they wished to reach.
Strikes kicked off on 15th October with regular days of industrial action taken in the month since. On strike days a revised and reduced service every 15 minutes ran between Wolverhampton St George’s and Bull Street only during the main part of the day. In total 53 days of strikes had been announced with most days in December included.
Negotiations took place again this week and that led to a revised pay offer. This is reported as being in the region of £26,000 which although still below expectations has now been agreed in a ballot of members. Unite have said on their Twitter that the new offer is worth up to 20% with “all grades receiving significant increases”.
The acceptance of this deal means all future strike dates are cancelled. Normal West Midlands Metro services will now run in the lead up to Christmas.
A spokesperson from West Midlands Metro said: “West Midlands Metro is pleased that the members of Unite union have accepted our enhanced pay offer and called off any further industrial action. We are now looking forward to working together to provide the best possible service to customers as we head towards the festive season and future expansion. A full service will resume, with trams running between Wolverhampton St George’s and Edgbaston Village.”