Employees of the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme have begun 48 hours of strike action in a row over pay.
The employees, who are members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) trade union, have cited the imposition of a 2% pay increase for 2013 and an end to overtime as reasons for the strike action.
Andrew Hill, contract director at Serco for Barclays Cycle Hire, said: “I am still deeply disappointed the RMT has instigated this wholly unnecessary strike given that we have already reached an agreement with the recognised trade union Community on the issues the RMT has raised around pay and working pattern changes.
“These were achieved through a comprehensive, thorough and fair consultation with staff that resulted in a pay rise of 2%, which is above the national average and included other improvements to their terms and conditions.”
Bob Crow, general secretary of RMT, said: “This group of workers is rock solid in [its] fight for workplace justice and it’s about time [Mayor of London] Boris Johnson got involved in resolving this dispute rather than treating his bikes as a vanity project.”