{"id":41796,"date":"2021-10-03T14:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-10-03T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=41796"},"modified":"2021-10-03T10:49:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-03T09:49:38","slug":"metrolink-strikes-back-on-after-union-members-reject-pay-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=41796","title":{"rendered":"Metrolink strikes back on after union members reject pay offer"},"content":{"rendered":"

There will be major disruption on Manchester Metrolink later this month after Unite the Union confirmed their intention to strike over the continued pay dispute. It had appeared that the dispute had been resolved during September following a revised pay offer after negotiations between the two sides but despite Union officials recommending this was accepted by members it has now been rejected leading to planned strikes on 10th<\/sup>, 15th<\/sup>, 18th<\/sup> and 24th<\/sup> October.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The threat of strike action first came about because of what was described as a \u201cpitiful\u201d offer \u2013 1% over 15 months with 0.3% backdated to January-March 2021 and 0.7% for the period April 2021-April 2022. After talks between Unite the Union and KeolisAmey Metrolink officials on Monday 20th<\/sup> September a revised pay offer was made, although the details of this were never revealed in any of the press releases. The union went on record as saying that they were recommending this was accepted by its members and as a result the planned strikes at the end of September were suspended.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to the start of October and the situation has changed with the Union now seeking a further pay increase \u2013 something which KeolisAmey Metrolink are currently unwilling to give. It is still unclear what has been offered as the Unite press release only mentions the original 1% offer which had been rejected outright by the union membership during a ballot.<\/p>\n

Guillaume Chanussot, Managing Director of KeolisAmey Metrolink, said: \u201cI\u2019m disappointed that Unite have returned to talks only to demand yet another increase to the already greatly improved, inflation-protected offer we made on Monday 20 September. This offer was being recommended for acceptance by Unite to their members only a few days ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still hope that we can reach a resolution which avoids damaging strike action. Our improved pay offer remains available for Unite to accept at any time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus now shifts to doing all we can to put robust contingency plans in place to ensure as many customers as possible can continue to make their journeys in the event of strike action. Unfortunately, if strike action does go ahead, there is likely to be considerable disruption to Metrolink services.\u201d<\/p>\n

For their part Unite have said the following, with regional officer David Roberts saying: \u201cThe tram contractor, Keolis\/Amey,\u00a0can avoid\u00a0disruption to the Manchester marathon and our city’s other big sporting events\u00a0by tabling a respectful and decent pay offer. Even at this late stage management has the power to avoid these strikes\u00a0by improving the pay offer. The ball is now in Keolis\/Amey\u2019s court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danny Vaughan, TfGM Head of Metrolink, commented: \u201cThe prospect of industrial action is very serious for an essential public transport service like Metrolink, and I\u2019d\u00a0encourage all parties to adopt the same constructive approach that they\u2019ve taken so far, into the further talks that will now follow and with a view to finding a resolution. While we hope an agreement can be reached, our efforts will now be focussed on\u00a0working closely with KAM and other operators to ensure sufficient plans are in place to minimise any impact on customers, should strike action go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strikes are now planned to take place on Sunday 10th<\/sup> October (the date of the Manchester Marathon), Friday 15th<\/sup> October, Monday 19th<\/sup> October and Sunday 24th<\/sup> October (when Manchester United play Liverpool at Old Trafford).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There will be major disruption on Manchester Metrolink later this month after Unite the Union confirmed their intention to strike over the continued pay dispute. It had appeared that the dispute had been resolved during September following a revised pay … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41797,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41796\/revisions\/41797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}