Buses and trams to run despite strike action

Passengers in Greater Manchester are being reassured that buses and trams will continue to run during planned industrial action which is expected to start on Thursday.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has said it has made revised and improved pay offers for its staff, with a focus on reaching an agreement with unions and avoiding strike action.

Despite discussions continuing, Unison and Unite unions are planning industrial action over pay.

The planned action does not include bus or tram drivers, but TfGM staff in office-based roles and at interchanges, information and ticket offices, and in the customer contact centre.

Services will run as normal and transport interchanges will remain open. Passengers should be aware that, whilst they’ll still be able to make their journey with little disruption expected, some supporting facilities may be reduced, including:

• Customers may be unable to buy some ticket products, such as weekly tickets or passes. People will still be able to buy tickets on board, at machines and pay via contactless.
• Some interchange facilities, such as toilets, may be closed.
• With Travelshops likely to close, there will be fewer staff members around to help passengers and provide journey information.
• The amount of time it takes to take bookings, respond to customer enquiries, process concession applications or update channels (such as the Bee Network website and social media) may also take longer than normal.
• TravelSafe Support and Enforcement Officers would continue to work and be deployed to key locations as required.

TfGM’s latest pay offer to unions is weighted to deliver the largest pay rise to those who are paid the least, with those who earn the most proposed to get the lowest uplift.

All staff would get a raise in their 2024/25 pay, with all continuing to be paid above the Real Living Wage – which currently equates to a full time salary of £23,088.

The latest offer means anyone paid below £27,800 (around 17% of TfGM staff) would get an average pay increase of between 8.2% and 9.5%.

The sliding scale means anyone earning between £27,800 and £51,000 would see an average rise of between 6.8% and 3.1% respectively. Anyone earning more would receive 2.5%.

Steve Warrener, managing director at TfGM, said: “The planned strikes do not affect drivers or any other bus or Metrolink staff. We’re reassuring passengers that their buses and trams will still run and we’ll keep Greater Manchester moving.

“Whilst there will naturally be some changes for passengers, including limited access to toilets and fewer people to provide information on strike days – we’ll be doing all we can to ensure such inconveniences are minimised.

“We’re still talking to union representatives and our focus is on reaching agreement and avoiding any industrial action, which could still be called off should they choose.  

“We recognise the need to support our hard-working colleagues facing cost of living pressures. But we also need to balance this with the challenging financial situation in the public sector.

"We feel it’s right we focus our attention on giving the biggest rises to those who are paid the least, that’s how we’ve structured of pay offers to the unions which have to date been rejected.”