Striking tram engineers return to work as TfL resolves dispute

Strike action by engineers working on the Croydon tram network has been called off after Transport for London and the Unite union reached a deal.

Back to work: the engineers’ strike lasted only two days

Engineers downed tools for the latest strike action on Monday and were due to be out of work for a full week until July 8. They will return to work today, with some service disruptions anticipated until all rolling stock is back up and running. .

A further strike planned for later in the month, July 11-15, has also been called off.

But even as workers return to their duties, there will still be disruption to the network this weekend – the ‘middle weekend’ of the Wimbledon tennis championships – as TfL carry out scheduled maintenance work on some of the network’s tracks.

The dispute was over pay parity, or the lack of it, as United colleagues doing similar work on tube trains are paid around £10,000 a year more.

Strike action previously took place in May, after a lack of routine maintenance work on the network’s aging rolling stock saw two-thirds of trams grounded for safety reasons.

According to union sources, an improved offer “has helped substantially to reduce the pay gap”. Some tram classes will receive a pay rise of up to 20%.

The deal, which was accepted in a ballot by engineers, also resolved long-standing contract and vacation pay issues.

Last night Navid Golshan, TfL’s managing director of London Trams, said: “We are delighted to have resolved this dispute with Unite and the union has withdrawn its industrial action from London Trams engineers.

“We will look from Wednesday to run as many services as possible, but this depends on tram availability, so we advise customers to continue to check before they travel and allow extra time for their journeys until a fully planned service can be restored . We would like to thank our customers for their patience.”

Engineering work planned for Saturday 6 July and Sunday 7 July continues.

On these dates, there will be no service between:

• Wellesley Road and New Addington
• Wellesley Road and Beckenham Junction or Elmers End
• New Addington and George Street
• Beckenham Junction or Elmers End and George Street

The trams will run between the following stations:

• Wimbledon and Wellesley Road
• George Street and Wimbledon

Exchange buses will run between:

• East Croydon and New Addington
• East Croydon and Beckenham Junction or Elmers End

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