Nottingham Express Transit workers accept 3.7% pay rise

By Olivia Hart

Nottingham Express Transit workers accepted a 3.7% pay rise, with 7% increases for the lowest-paid roles, after four days of strikes across the Nottinghamshire tram network.

The revised agreement ends ongoing strike action and cancels a walkout scheduled for Thursday, 22 October. It also withdraws 25 further strike days planned for later this year and adds improved conditions for the entire workforce. For the operator, the change is a negotiated pay-and-conditions package rather than a continuing dispute; for employees, it resets pay and terms without further walkouts.

What did the revised deal include?

GMB represented the employees across Nottinghamshire’s tram network, and the revised offer followed months of negotiations. Its ballot received member approval, leading the union to call off the winter action.

The package contains:

• A 3.7% pay rise;
• A 7% increase for the lowest-paid roles; and
• Improved conditions for all workers.

The 7% increase is 3.3 percentage points higher than the 3.7% general rise, placing the larger immediate boost at the bottom of the pay structure.

No new salary amounts, hourly rates or total annual cost were provided. The announcement also does not specify a pay-effective date or describe the workforce-wide condition changes in detail, leaving those implementation points for the operator and union to communicate.

What ended the industrial action?

The accepted offer came after workers completed four days of strikes across the network. It prevented action due to begin on Thursday, 22 October, as well as 25 strike days that had been planned for later in the year. Those cancellations remove the immediate prospect of repeated disruption across Nottinghamshire’s tram service.

Nottingham Express Transit managing director Sarah Turner said: “After months of ongoing pay talks with GMB, we’re pleased to have been able to work with them to reach a resolution and a positive way forward. The deal has now successfully received ballot approval.”

Turner said the company had remained committed to a continued, cooperative partnership with GMB and considered the agreement viable for both parties. She also said the sides had agreed key activities and next steps to improve their working relationship, with further work planned over the coming months to build on the promising steps made that week.

What did GMB say?

Colin Whyatt, a GMB organiser, said: “Tram workers are vital to the success of our city and our county. This new package delivers significant improvement to our members’ terms and conditions of employment across the network.”

Whyatt called strike action a last resort and said members believed they deserved respect at work and a pay packet that covered their bills. The union’s immediate priority is now working with management to support the tram network’s continued success and ensure workers who operate it day to day have a voice.

What should employers and workers track next?

The operator’s next task is to implement the agreed percentages and unspecified condition changes, then translate them into payroll and workforce communications. For employees, the immediate entitlements under the package are the ballot-backed pay increases, while future bargaining will test whether the partnership commitments produce tangible changes outside pay.

Neither side announced an implementation timetable or provided details of the condition improvements. The next checkpoint is therefore the operator’s communication of the effective date and terms, followed by GMB’s monitoring of delivery and the jointly agreed relationship-building work. Over the coming months, Turner and Whyatt have said they will work together on that relationship, making execution of the package the practical test of whether months of negotiations produced a durable settlement.