Around 100 tower crane operators working for Wolffkran on some of the biggest construction sites across the UK will be withdrawing their labour today in the first of a series of planned strikes.
Tower crane operators will be taking the first day of strike action on Tuesday 27th January and will then take strike action every fortnight from then on. Exact days will be determined by members at each site based on what will cause the most disruption.
Wolffkran UK, a hire company owned by the German crane manufacturer of the same name, has more than 220 tower cranes and operates on some of the biggest construction sites in the UK including the Grenfell Tower deconstruction, the Cambridge Science Park and the new headquarters for the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Berkshire.
Crane operators are upset that despite having seen their par rates rise by 38.3% over the past 10 years, above inflation of 35.2% for the same period, they have had no rise for the past three years and are dissatisfied with this year鈥檚 pay offer.
Wollfkran UK said that its top earning operator in 2025 grossed just short of 拢110,000 and average earnings are almost 拢66,000. This puts crane operators on salary par with chartered civil engineers, construction managers and train drivers, it said.
The company also says that since 2016 its crane utilisation has decreased by 26% and the number of cranes that it has on hire has reduced by around 40%. Average rental rates have also been hit hard, reducing by around 20-25%, depending on the crane model. Yet pay rates have gone up by nearly 40%, it said.
The company said of the strike action: 鈥淒espite receiving an offer from the company in August to significantly increase their basic pay and having received over 38% in pay increases since 2015, Wolffkran tower crane operators are now engaged in industrial action in a quest for more money. This comes as a huge disappointment to all of us who have worked hard to resolve this issue and we are saddened that a proportion of the 123 operators, whose average pay is almost 拢66,000 per year, have chosen this course. Wolffkran lay the responsibility of the disruption squarely at the door of Unite and its members due to their inflexibility during negotiations and failure to seek a solution. We are and have always been, open for further discussions but we have not seen any appetite from Unite to resume dialogue and this is very disappointing.鈥�
However, one of its operators countered: 鈥�Crane operators earn different amounts depending on the demands of each site and also depending on how many hours they work. Based on Wolffkran鈥檚 base rate we would earn around 拢34-35k per annum. There are operators who earn above this but they have to work long hours to achieve that. We are simply trying to get an increase on our base rate that will keep pace with inflation and help the operators who are working the minimum 50hrs per week to make ends meet. 鈥�