West Midlands Metro staff to strike over pay

53 days of strike action are planned for the West Midlands Metro tram network between 15 October and 5 January

Tram workers have voted to strike in a dispute over pay.

West Midlands Metro staff will walk out on 15 October with a further 52 strike days scheduled up to the start of January.

Unite is demanding a minimum driver salary of £27,000 and claims the current pay of £21,939 is one of the lowest in the UK for equivalent roles.

The tram operator, which has offered £25,250, said it was "disappointed" with the ballot result.

Unite regional officer Sulinder Singh said: "Strike 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's own making.

"[It] has had every opportunity to come forward with a pay offer which tackled low pay and met our members' expectations but it has chosen not to do so."

In addition to the higher driver salary, the union has demanded a £5,000 increase for all other grades.

It said the driver salary increase offered by the company and an increase of 5.25% to all other grades was "inadequate".

'Fair pay offer'

West Midlands Metro said Unite had declined to continue negotiations through mediation service ACAS but "a fair pay offer" remained on the table, including a £3,300 annual increase for crew with a year's service.

It described it as a "comprehensive package" put forward following a difficult period caused by the pandemic.

"These 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," a spokesperson said.

"These proposals... [bring] 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."

Unite represents more than 176 workers on the region's tram network, which links Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

It said 84% of members participated in the ballot, with 86% voting to strike.

Information about affected services will be released in due course.