Ealing Traffic Wardens Strike over Ticket Targets and 'Union Busting'
Month long industrial action planned
A Greener Ealing employees demonstrating outside council offices. Picture: Unite
March 1, 2025
Traffic wardens working in the borough of Ealing are set to strike for a month unless an ongoing dispute with the council is resolved.
Unite the Union says that the industrial action is necessary due to what it describes as ‘union busting’ within Greener Ealing Ltd. (GEL), the council’s wholly owned company which handles parking enforcement in the borough and alleged ticket targets which, it is claimed, is leading to residents being ripped-off.
The dispute began last August over union recognition due to staff, formerly working with the previous contractor Serco, being transferred in April 2024 to GEL, which also handles the borough’s waste management contract, where only the GMB union is recognised.
Unite claims that four of its members have been dismissed since then during strike action on what it describes as ‘trumped up charges’.
The union is also alleging that the law is being broken due to its members being given targets for the number of PCNs to be issued during each shift. An investigation by the Evening Standard revealed audio recordings of managers seemingly explicitly requiring staff to meet a ticket target of 10 or 11 tickets or face a sanction for ‘poor performance’. Setting parking ticket or parking fine revenue targets is prohibited under The Traffic Management Act.
The union says that pressure is being put on staff to further increase the revenue that parking enforcement brings in for the council. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of parking tickets issued in Ealing more than doubled with revenue from parking fines increased by £2.6 million over the same period – a rise of 149 per cent.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “The targeting of our members at Greener Ealing is union-busting plain and simple. An attack on one is an attack on all and Unite will not rest until Ealing council reinstates these workers and recognises their union.”
Unite regional officer Lui D’Cunha added, “Not only are Greener Ealing and Ealing council guilty of union-busting, but they are also endangering workers while ripping off residents. Forcing staff to meet unlawful ticket targets fuels abuse and assaults.
“The council must reverse the disgraceful dismissals and recognise the workers’ union so they have proper protection."
A spokesperson for Ealing Council said, “It is not accurate to state Ealing Council are in dispute with parking wardens as parking services are managed by Greener Ealing Ltd (GEL).
“The council is committed to supporting the wellbeing of staff and ensuring a balanced approach to performance and service delivery by its contractors.
“The council does not set PCN targets as part of its contract with GEL. Instead, the number of PCNS issued per hour is used as one of several performance measures, reflecting the varying compliance levels across the borough. Only 1 per cent of PCNs issued are found to be in error, reflecting that extra PCNs are not issued to meet target numbers.”
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |