Hackney Traffic Wardens To Strike Over Sick Pay

Traffic wardens in Hackney, east London, will take two days of strike action next week in a bid to get a proper sick pay policy provided by their private sector employer.

The 30 employees, members of Unite the union, will strike against APCOA Parking, which has the contract from Hackney council to run the service, for 48 hours from 00.01 Monday 03 August. The vote for strike action was 100 per cent.

Unite warned that the council will lose revenue from parking tickets not being issued and said that the chances of car users in the borough getting booked for a parking offence will be much reduced.

The focus of the dispute is that the traffic wardens, known as civil enforcement officers, have worse pay, and terms and conditions than council staff – employees of the same authority that hands out the contracts to private companies.

Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said: "We call on the APCOA management to get around the table to negotiate a pay and terms and conditions' package that gives our members equality with council staff.

"If the strike goes ahead, the council will suffer a substantial loss of revenue accrued from issuing parking tickets and that car users in Hackney will have their chances of getting a ticket much reduced for two days next week.

"The main issue is that there is no company sick pay policy with APCOA Parking – our members only get statutory sick pay (SSP). They have also rejected a 1.5 per cent pay offer for this year.

"The case that our members are making is that in their role, sickness absence is not uncommon because of the many incidents of abuse and assaults they suffer. Yet all they get is SSP – it is not good enough.

"In Hackney, the traffic wardens are on poorer pay and conditions than the staff in the local authorities that hand out the contracts to the private companies – this grossly unfair two-tier pay policy must cease."

(CD/MH)