Union members at Manchester Metrolink have overwhelmingly voted in favour of strike action, which could coincide with and 'heavily affect' next month's Parklife festival. This is after Unite members rejected a 'woeful' pay offer to staff from Metrolink.
Union bosses say dates for industrial action will be announced 'imminently'. This could cause travel chaos for those heading to Parklife festival at Heaton Park on the weekend of June 10 and 11, the union has previously said, with other huge concerts planned at the Etihad Stadium, Old Trafford cricket ground, and the AO Arena next month.
Unite, which represents more than 600 members at Metrolink, say the staff were offered a five per cent pay rise, an increase union bosses previously described as a 'very significant real terms pay cut'. More than 95 per cent of those who voted rejected the offer, paving the way for industrial action.
Unite regional officer Colin Hayden said: "Unite members at Metrolink have overwhelmingly voted for industrial action. Metrolink's management has consistently refused to enter into negotiations and as a result the union will announce industrial action dates imminently."
Starting pay rates at Metrolink are currently £20,000 for customer service relations - or inspectors - while starting salaries for drivers begin at £22,000 and £26,000 for engineers. Metrolink is operated and maintained by a joint venture company Keolis Amey which holds the contract to run the service that Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is responsible for.
Alongside Parklife at Heaton Park on June 10 and 11, acts such as Coldplay and The Weeknd will be playing at the Etihad Stadium in early June. Arctic Monkeys are also set to play two huge nights at Old Traffic cricket ground at the start of the month.
On the same weekend last year, there were an additional 400,000 visitors to Greater Manchester as Parklife took place while Ed Sheeran, the Killers and Alicia Keys performed elsewhere. Over 50,000 passengers were reported on the Ashton and Altrincham lines with 80,000 passengers on the Bury line.
The operator have told the Manchester Evening News that they are working with Unite to try and avoid strike action if possible. But, they said tram services will not operate if industrial action still goes ahead.
Rob Cox, HR Director at operator KeolisAmey Metrolink (KAM), said: "Unite has advised us today, Thursday 25 May, that they have received a mandate for strike action on Metrolink from their members. We will now engage with Unite to see if it will be possible to avert strike action. If strike action does go ahead, no Metrolink services will operate."
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