Croydon tram strike begins after ‘bad faith’ talks.

Updated 7 hours ago

Engineers working on a south London tram service have started a five-day strike in a dispute over pay disparities.

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

The union said around 60 engineers took part in Sunday’s action because they are “furious” their London Underground counterparts are being 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 continuing the dialogue to reach a conclusion”.

The workers’ strike began at 20:00 BST on Sunday and is scheduled to run until 06:00 BST on Thursday 9 May.

They added that this was because TfL “refused to be transparent about the process it used to identify pay gaps and broke its word on how they would be resolved”.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said TfL was “systemically underpaying” tram engineers.

“TfL negotiated in bad faith, breaking promises and withholding information. Unite’s patience has run out because of TfL’s disgraceful double-dealing and lack of transparency,” she added.

A TfL spokesman said it would “never enter into conversations in bad faith”.

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

TfL said it would take time and said it had asked for this strike to be suspended to allow this to happen.

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

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

Information on how the action will affect services can be found on TfL’s strike page.