Parklife festival travel to be disrupted as Manchester Metrolink tram workers to strike over pay

Those trying to get to Manchester's Parklife may face a travel nightmare as workers on the Metrolink tram system have announced they will strike across the weekend.

United said around 600 of its members will walk out over the weekend of 10 and 11 June after voting overwhelmingly for industrial action in a dispute over pay.

The union said workers had been offered a 5% pay rise over a 15-month period, describing it as a “substantial real terms pay cut” as RPI inflation is still in double figures.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Metrolink is operated by vastly wealthy multinational companies that can fully afford to make our members a fair pay offer but they have chosen not to.

“Our members at Metrolink are frontline workers who play a vital role in keeping Manchester moving. It is incomprehensible that Metrolink thinks it is in anyway acceptable to further suppress their pay when workers are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.”

Parklife, the country’s largest metropolitan festival, is held annually in Heaton Park, in the north of the city, with extra trams and special measures put in place to get fans to and from the city centre.

Other events that will be disrupted by the strike action include Soccer Aid at Old Trafford, Roger Waters at the AO Arena and The Weeknd at the Etihad Stadium.

Transport for Greater Manchester said it did not expect services to operate if strike action went ahead.