{"id":46543,"date":"2022-10-01T22:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T21:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=46543"},"modified":"2022-10-01T17:45:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T16:45:59","slug":"53-days-of-strike-action-confirmed-for-west-midlands-metro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=46543","title":{"rendered":"53 days of strike action confirmed for West Midlands Metro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Staff on the West Midlands Metro are to take 53 days of strike action between October 2022 and January 2023 as the dispute over pay shows no signs of coming to a resolution. The first day of strike action will take place on Saturday 15<sup>th<\/sup> October with a further seven days of action in October, 21 in November, 21 in December and three in January.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The news comes after a ballot of 176 workers represented by the Unite union saw 86% vote in favour of striking (with a turn out of 84%). This equates to around 130 members voting to go on strike.<\/p>\n<p>As with all the recent strike action affecting UK transport networks the main driver of this dispute is down to pay with the cost of living crisis hitting home. According to Unite, workers on the West Midlands Metro receive some of the lowest wages in the country for similar work and despite a significant rise being offered by management this has not met the expectations of staff and no further offer has been made despite negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>The offer which was previously made public was as follows:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tram Crew<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Starting salary for tram crew would increase from \u00a319,773 to \u00a321,500<\/li>\n<li>Salary of tram crew with 12 months service would rise from \u00a321,939 to \u00a325,250<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Other staff<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Would receive a rise of 5.25%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The expectations of workers is that they would receive a minimum wage of \u00a327,000.<\/p>\n<p>Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary, said: \u201cIt is disgraceful that despite our members undertaking extremely demanding and responsible jobs and ensuring that Birmingham and the Black Country keeps moving, they are paid poverty wages. Unite always fights tooth and nail for its members as it ensures that their jobs, pay and conditions are defended and enhanced. Our members at Midlands Metro will receive the union\u2019s unswerving support.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sultinder Singh, Unite Regional Officer, added: \u201cStrike action will inevitably cause severe disruption and delays for metro passengers across Birmingham and the Black Country but this dispute is entirely of the company\u2019s own making. Midland Metro has had every opportunity to come forward with a pay offer which tackled low pay and met our members\u2019 expectations but it has chosen not to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Strikes are due to take place as follows:<\/p>\n<p>October \u2013 15, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 29, 31<\/p>\n<p>November \u2013 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30<\/p>\n<p>December \u2013 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31<\/p>\n<p>January \u2013 1, 2, 5<\/p>\n<p>For their part Midland Metro Limited \u2013 who operate the network \u2013 have said that Unite have declined an offer to attend ACAS to continue negotiations but that the pay offer as previously offered remains on the table.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson said: \u201cNaturally, we are disappointed at the ballot result and the union\u2019s decision to escalate the dispute, despite our extensive efforts to reach an amicable agreement. Unfortunately, Unite has also declined to continue negotiations through the conciliation service ACAS and has now informed us of dates on which they intend to undertake industrial action. However, a fair pay offer, including an increase of more than 15 per cent \u2013 or more than \u00a33,300 a year \u2013 for tram crew with a full year\u2019s service, remains on the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese proposals also include an increase for tram crew in their first year who are still receiving training, bringing these salaries into line with those on similar-sized tram systems in other UK cities. Other colleagues across the network will also receive a significant pay rise. This fair and comprehensive package was put forward following a difficult couple of years for the network, during which we have supported our colleagues through the pandemic and more recent service suspensions that were beyond our control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese challenges have inevitably had an impact on revenues, and we continue to operate with financial support from West Midlands Combined Authority. As a result, the proposals, which were initially accepted by Unite, represent our best offer in the current circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClearly, any industrial action risks impacting on the network\u2019s post-pandemic recovery as well as causing unnecessary disruption for customers who we will update on affected services in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Staff on the West Midlands Metro are to take 53 days of strike action between October 2022 and January 2023 as the dispute over pay shows no signs of coming to a resolution. The first day of strike action will &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=46543\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46543"}],"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=46543"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46578,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46543\/revisions\/46578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}