Tram engineers to strike after 'bad faith' talks

The Unite union says the Croydon Tramlink engineers are paid less than their London Underground counterparts

Industrial action by engineers who work on a south London tram service is to start in a dispute over pay disparities.

The union representing the Croydon Tramlink engineers, Unite, accused Transport for London (TfL) of engaging in "bad faith" talks.

The union says about 60 engineers are taking part in the action from Sunday because they are "angry" their counterparts on the London Underground are paid £10,000 more a year despite having the same level of training.

TfL said it had been "open and honest throughout the process" and added it was "committed to continued dialogue to reach a conclusion".

The workers will strike from 20:00 BST on Sunday to 06:00 BST on Thursday 9 May.

Strike action had been due to take place in March but this was suspended to engage in further talks, a Unite spokesperson said.

They added this was because TfL "refused to be transparent about the process it was using to identify pay disparities and broke its word on how they would be resolved".

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said TfL was "systemically underpaying" the tram engineers.

“TfL was negotiating in bad faith by breaking its promises and withholding information. Unite’s patience has run out with TfL’s disgraceful double-dealing and lack of transparency," she added.

A TfL spokesperson said it "would never enter conversations in bad faith".

"We have agreed to work with union colleagues to identify equivalent roles in London Underground, assess any disparity in overall benefits packages, and where agreed take action where appropriate," they explained.

TfL said it would take time and said it had asked that this strike action was suspended to allow this to happen.

"We remain committed to continued dialogue to reach a conclusion and ask the union to suspend this action, which will only cause unnecessary inconvenience for our customers," the spokesperson added.

Industrial action will escalate if the dispute is not resolved, the union spokesperson added.

Information on how the action will affect services can be found on the TfL strikes page.