Traffic wardens in Ealing are to take further strike action from Monday (7 October 2024) over Ealing Council-owned Greener Ealing not recognising the civil enforcement officers belonging to the Unite trade union.
The previous strike action took place from 27 August 2024 to 18 September 2024 and the new strike will run from 7 October 2024 until 3 November 2024.
In a statement, Unite said the action: “will severely disrupt on-street parking, including the monitoring of residential streets where permits are required, and council car parks.”
The traffic wardens were formerly employed by Serco but from 1 April 2024 parking enforcement was brought in-house to the council’s Greener Ealing.
According to Unite, Greener Ealing hasn’t recognised the 10-year-old agreement Serco had with Unite to represent the workers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is disgraceful that a Labour council is refusing to recognise these workers’ right to be represented by their long-term union. Councillors’ excuses that Greener Ealing is responsible for this dispute when it is completely owned by the council will not wash.”
Ms Graham added: “Our members have been betrayed by Ealing’s elected politicians and Unite is supporting them 100 per cent in their strike action.”
Unite added that prior to becoming MP for Ealing Southall, Ms Costigan as deputy leader of Ealing Council as well as Ealing Council cabinet member for climate action helped the workers in their campaign to stop parking services being outsourced. The union claims that she is not supporting the workers to have Unite recognised by Greener Ealing.
As well as the former deputy leader, Unite has said that Ealing Council leader Councillor Peter Mason is also ignoring the workers despite previously meeting with Unite during the campaign to stop outsourcing,
Unite regional officer Lui D’Cunha said: “Ealing Council’s broken promises and dirty tricks have only strengthened our members’ resolve. This dispute will continue to escalate and strikes will not end until Greener Ealing our members’ chosen union is recognised.”
Previously, an Ealing Council spokesperson said: “We are disappointed that Unite are leading on industrial action in our parking service. So far the impact has been minimal with very little disruption to normal services. We have put measures in place to ensure that residents aren’t impacted during industrial action and would advise drivers to follow restrictions as normal or they could face being issued with a penalty charge notice.”
A Greener Ealing spokesperson previously said the strike action has had “minimal impact”: “GEL has a recognition agreement with the GMB. We have explained repeatedly to the Unite representatives that we will not recognise them for collective bargaining purposes. We have now reached an agreement on pay and conditions with the GMB for the entire workforce. Parking staff are also benefiting from a range of improved terms and conditions
“The strike itself has had minimal impact with a small number of parking staff taking part each day. The service is operating well and meeting the council’s priorities.”
 over Ealing Council-owned Greener Ealing not recognising the civil enforcement officers belonging to the Unite trade union. ){kind=link}