Parking wardens were in Paris last week to show solidarity with protesters3

TRAFFIC wardens celebrated a fifth successive strike victory with drums and joyful chanting outside the depot in Kentish Town.

The civil enforcement officers – just back from France where they joined public sector workers backing school pupil protests – are now the highest paid NSL-employed traffic wardens in the country.

They had stopped fining vehicles and checking the CCTV about six and a half weeks ago in a row over low pay and holiday allowances that has ended up costing Camden Council more than £1 million in lost revenue due to driving offences going unpunished.

After six and a half weeks of strike, pay is rising to £18 an hour, and £19.10 next year – a 9 per cent increase. They will also get three more days’ annual leave a year, thanks to the Camden UNISON negotiations.

At the celebration in Regis Road on Tuesday, traffic warden rep Stella Costa said: “I’ve been here eight years. This is number five, but I’ve only been with two.

“With the CCTV, tickets have to be processed within 14 days. There’s a deadline. So they lose a lot of money. It would have been cheaper for them to give us a decent pay rise instead.

“But quite frankly these big businesses, councils, they are very childish. They don’t do the obvious, and make you fight for it. Why? We just wanted some decent conditions to start with, it’s not unreasonable.”

She added: “They make money off Camden while they try and make money off us. It’s not right, it’s not moral. That’s why we strike, to get it back.”

Parking wardens said they often faced racial and physical abuse from angry drivers due to fines that can rise to more than £100.

Ms Costa said: “So far two people have tried to run me over.

“We get verbal abuse regularly. But you do get to know your area, the vast majority of people are lovely.”

NSL, the council’s traffic service contractor since 2012, is owned by Marston Holdings, which also has a contract with Camden until 2030.

Despite the strike win, the staff are still not up to the same level in “real terms” of pay and conditions as local authority employees.

Camden traffic wardens won similar pay rise demands in 2022 after 56 days of strike action that cost the council around £1.5 million.

Striking parking wardens were happy to celebrate the win in the same week as the GOSH teachers’ victory.

Liz Wheatley, Camden UNISON secretary, said: “They have lost a lot over six and a half weeks of strike action. But now they won enough to cover that, with the back pay. But also going forward. They are now the highest paid traffic wardens in NSL and they have the most leave. We are very proud of our members.”

She added: “Now we have our teaching assistants (TAs) back out on strike next week. Richard Cobden and Primrose Hill. There has been some movement from Camden. We say all TAs across the borough need to be regraded, and that is what we are fighting for now.”

NSL has declined to comment every week since the strike action began in September.

Solidarité

By ALANA BRESLIN

STRIKING traffic wardens travelled across the Channel in an international act of solidarity to join current demonstrations being held in Paris.

A group of 30 Camden UNISON members joined tens of thousands of demonstrators, taking to the streets of the French capital in protests over pay, living standards and education.

Stella Costa, a traffic warden and UNISON rep, said: “The people there were just amazing, they were just so friendly – there was no trouble. It was very crowded, but there was none of what you hear about on the news, I never saw the violence, the atmosphere was great like a carnival or festival.”

The Camden delegation initially tried to stick together in their group of 30, but the sheer size of the crowds forced them to split into smaller groups of five. With language barriers adding to the challenge, demonstrators found themselves relying on their French counterparts to help them navigate the streets.

“We all had to go in groups of five and the people we were with were wonderful, because none of us spoke French. The amount of times we got lost and they found us. It was brilliant,” Ms Costa added.

The trip was not without its difficulties. Police confiscated the poles used to hold together the group’s banner, while the person carrying it was stopped and questioned on three separate occasions.

Liz Wheatley, secretary of Camden UNISON, said she had been inspired by the original slogan from the May 1968 student uprising in France, which led to a nationwide strike.

She said: “Our strike was in the spirit of May 1968 when all the protesters said ‘demand the impossible’. NSL said all this was impossible, well our members demanded it and we won it.”

She added: “It just shows the power working-class people have when they strike. We are very proud of our members.”