TfL issues statement following Croydon May tram strikes

The disruption has been caused following the strike by engineers who feel there is a “hugely unfair pay disparities.”

Unite said: “Around 60 trams, stores and infrastructure engineers are angry that their colleagues on the London Underground, who need the same qualifications and perform the same roles, are paid up to £10,000 more a year.”

The union blamed TfL for this disruption and accused them of “entering talks in bad faith.”

There were plans for strike action in March but were postponed allowing for talks with TfL.

But the negotiations failed because Unite claims 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.”

A spokesperson for TfL said: “We would never enter conversations in bad faith, and have been open and honest throughout the process.

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

“This will take some further time and we asked Unite the Union to suspend their strike action but they declined.”

TfL has engaged in negotiations for over five years about the employment contracts of its workers.

Despite their technical roles, these workers have been classified as office workers, meaning in lower pay, and stopped workers from working together.

In 2023, TfL agreed to change the workers’ contracts, but according to Unite, the implementation of this commitment has not happened yet.

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