West Midlands Metro strike action suspended amid fresh pay offer

Strike action on the West Midlands Metro tram network began in October amid a pay dispute with Unite members

Strikes by tram drivers in the West Midlands have been suspended after a fresh pay offer, a union says.

Dozens of days of walkouts were organised by Unite and began in October in a dispute over pay.

But after talks through conciliation service ACAS, the union said strikes from Wednesday to Friday were suspended while it balloted its members.

West Midlands Metro said a normal service would operate this week and it hoped staff accepted the offer.

The operator runs services between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

Unite said the talks through ACAS came after it had announced the strikes would escalate with all-out continuous action from 28 November.

"Unite's members will be fully briefed on the latest offer and balloted on it," regional officer Sulinder Singh said.

If the offer was rejected, the strikes would resume from next week, Unite added.