Camden traffic wardens win

Camden’s outsourced traffic wardens have won a decisive pay rise after 59 consecutive days on strike.

They voted overwhelmingly to accept a deal netting them £15 per hour backdated to April 2023, £15.90 next year, and the year after either £16.50 or RPI, whichever is highest.

£15 falls short of their original demand of £15.90 this year, but is a genuinely inflation-busting 18.1% increase on their previous wage of £12.70. The deal also looks likely to track or outstrip inflation in years two and three. It puts them at least among the best-paid outsourced traffic wardens in the country.

In this strike wave, only extended or indefinite walkouts have successfully defended or improved real-terms wages against inflation. The wardens’ strategy contrasts starkly with the unsuccessful, stop-start, “marathon not a sprint” approach promoted by some ‘left’ union leaders.

The wardens built strong organisation through previous disputes, and kept democratic control throughout this strike. They placed pressure to ensure that Unison leaders would authorise indefinite action. They sent shop stewards into negotiations, and discussed each offer from the employer collectively, in general meetings.

They piled extra pressure on both Camden Council, and its private outsourcing contractor, with consistent picketing, public protests and exposing bosses’ eye-watering pay. While negotiating, deliberating and voting on offers, they kept the strike solid rather than surrendering momentum by pausing action.

In all these aspects, the wardens have set an example from which the wider labour movement should learn.

The three-year deal will expire along with the service’s outsourcing contract. The wardens are already planning a campaign demanding that the Labour-run council bring them in-house at that point. This will boost their terms and conditions, and the closer incorporation of a well-organised group of workers, with recent experience of successful militant action, will boost the whole Camden workforce.