14.01.2026

UK tower crane operator strike

Crane operators employed by Wolffkran UK that belong to the Unite union have voted to stage a series of one day strikes starting later this month.

The first 24-hour strike is currently scheduled for Tuesday, January 27th and then every two weeks thereafter.
Between 80 and 90 operators are said to be involved, with the issue related to the level of pay increases over the past three years. The two parties are, we understand, still talking, with hopes on both sides to reach an agreement before the first strike takes place.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "It is completely unacceptable that highly skilled and vital construction workers have not seen their pay increase in three years. To add insult to injury, Wolffkran is now attacking workers’ conditions.”

Unite regional officer Vince McCoy added: “These workers are doing a difficult, dangerous and highly stressful role. Without a pay raise for more than three years, and are furious that the company is now also seeking to cut some of their additional benefits, including standby payments. They have finally reached the end of their patience and are now resorting to taking strike action. We urge Wolffkran to come back with an improved offer.”

Wolffkran was asked if it wished to make a statement or comment it said: “We have no comment to make at this point”

UPDATE

On the day that operators at Wolffkran UK were due to go on strike, -January 27th - the company issued a full statement.

“Statement on strike activities in UK

Despite 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 £66,000 per year, have chosen this course. Wolffkran lays 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.

Additional facts

• Since 2015, pay awards of 38.3% have shown Wolffkran’s commitment to rewarding staff when the financial situation allows and is further supported when viewed alongside parallel inflation figures of 35.2% for the same period.

• The highest earned gross figure from the Wolffkran operator in 2025 was just short of £110k, with average earnings of almost £66k. This puts Wolffkran operators on salary par with Civil Engineers, Construction Managers and Train Drivers, with the average length of service in the department being 12 years and 9 months.

• Since 2016 the business has seen crane utilisation decrease by 26%, the number of cranes on hire has also reduced by around 40%

• Average rental rates have also been hit hard, reducing by around 20-25%, depending on the crane model.”