Andy Burnham slams TfGM strikes as 'unnecessary' and 'unjustified'

Andy Burnham has condemned planned strikes by Transport for Greater Manchester employees over the festive period. The Mayor of Greater Manchester added that TFGM services will continue to run despite the planned action.

In a statement, Mr Burnham slammed the planned strikes as "unjustified" and "unnecessary". The strikes have been called in an ongoing dispute over pay at TFGM.

Office based workers and frontline transport workers at ticket offices plan to strike between Thursday December 12 and Sunday December 15. Bus and tram drivers will not be included in the planned action, with it including customer contact, ticket offices, information, office roles, and interchanges.

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The latest offer to staff has been to increase this year's pay by up to 9.5 percent for people who earn the least. Meanwhile those who earn more than £51,000 will receive a rise of 2.5 percent in line with the settlement for staff at local authorities.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “With several revised and improved pay offers made to staff, this strike action is now primarily about giving more money to those already earning more than £50,000. We believe that a 2.5% rise for those high earners is fair, which is why we’ve weighted the offer to give the biggest rises to those on the lowest pay.

“Whilst unions in the other transport authorities have accepted the deal, unions in Greater Manchester are still refusing to even put the offer to a member ballot. The planned action is unnecessary, unjustified and comes at a critical time when we’re readying to launch Bee Network buses across the remainder of Greater Manchester in January.

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