TfGM industrial action OFF

Transport workers voted on the pay deal last week

Potential industrial action at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) just days before the mayor’s ‘biggest change yet to our public transport’ has been averted.

Around 200 staff at TfGM previously walked out of work for several days in mid-December in a row about pay and parental leave, but suspended action after Andy Burnham and TfGM chief exec Caroline Simpson sat down for face-to-face talks and issued a new ‘full and final’ offer to end the dispute.

Workers then voted on the deal last week, which included an overhaul of the parenta leave policy and pay rises of up to 8.9 percent for the lowest-paid, with the result published today (Monday).

Some 62.5 percent Unite and UNISON trade union members voted to accept it.

The result means all industrial action has been cancelled, and TfGM staff are back at work from Monday as normal. 

Union figures say they will still be pressing management to implement the agreed changes.

A spokesperson said: “By standing together and being prepared to take action, UNISON and Unite members at TfGM have won an improved deal on pay, maternity and adoption pay, paternity pay, family friendly policies, standby and callout payments and equal pay gaps. 

“Members expect TfGM to deliver on its commitment to work with the unions on further improvements to bring family friendly policies up to an acceptable standard over the next few months.”

Steve Warrener, TfGM’s managing director, said he was ‘pleased the unions have accepted our pay offer and called off industrial action’. 

“We listened to our staff and came up with a package to ensure TfGM remains a rewarding place to work, with everyone paid above the Real Living Wage and those on the lowest salaries receiving the biggest pay rises,” he added.

“We have also committed to make immediate improvements to family friendly policies early in the new year, and to carry out a wider review of policies and entitlements by April.

"We’re now looking forward to making history together on January 5 as we bring all buses into the Bee Network and under local control for the first time in 40 years.”

January 5 is what Andy Burnham previously called the ‘biggest change yet to our public transport’, as every Greater Manchester bus will be run publicly.

That paves the way for a tap-in and tap-out system to come in from March across both buses and trams.

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