London tram strike coinciding with Wimbledon called off, TfL says

Strikes by London tram staff which could have hit Wimbledon fans going to the world-famous competition have been called off, TfL has said.

The Unite union had pledged that members of tram maintenance staff would strike from 8pm on Sunday until July 8 and from July 11 to July 15.

The All England Club tennis competition runs from July 1 to 14 with Wimbledon being the extreme south western stop on the Tramlink.

However, TfL said on Wednesday that the strike had been resolved.

Navid Golshan, TfL’s General manager for London Trams, said: “We are pleased that we have resolved this dispute with Unite and the union has withdrawn their industrial action by the London Trams engineers."

He said that “tram availability” would determine how many services could be run on Wednesday.

Unite had been taking action since March over complaints that they can be paid up to £10,000 per year less than colleagues on the Underground.

This is despite requiring the same qualifications and performing the same roles as their TfL stablemates.

Unite said it called off the strike after “an improved offer”, with some London Trams engineering grades seeing an uplift of up to 20 per cent.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Congratulations to the London Trams engineers who secured this deal by standing together in their union and taking strike action.

“This is yet another example of how Unite’s laser-like focus on defending and improving jobs, pay and conditions is delivering for our members.”

However, planned engineering work on Saturday and Sunday, July 6-7, will mean no London Trams services will operate east of East Croydon.

Tram passengers have been urged to check before they travel.