Elizabeth Line workers to take industrial action on first anniversary of opening

Workers on London’s Elizabeth Line will take industrial action later this month on the first anniversary of its opening, in a long-running dispute over pay.

Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association will strike on May 24 and ban overtime from May 27 to June 4.

The union says that many staff on the Elizabeth Line are paid tens of thousands of pounds less than colleagues performing similar roles on other parts of the Transport for London (TfL) network.

This is the second strike on the Elizabeth Line, after TSSA members took action in the same dispute in January.

TSSA members work in roles including Traffic Managers, Service and Infrastructure, and Incident Response Manager grades.

The union’s organising director, Mel Taylor, said: “We’ve been in talks with management for almost a year now, yet the majority of our members have been offered an uplift of just over 1% to make up for the huge pay differentials.

“Elizabeth Line staff work weekends, nights and even Christmas Day, operating the world’s only fully digital railway, but many earn less than two thirds of the salary paid to other TfL staff in similar roles.

“Our members don’t want to have to take strike action, but they’ve had enough.”