Cross Keys Bridge, Sutton Bridge. Picture: Ian Burt

WORKERS at a bridge which provides crucial access to Wisbech Port are to vote on whether to strike in a row over pay and conditions.

Trade union Unison will ballot its members at Cross Keys Bridge, which stands over the River Nene at Sutton Bridge, for the industrial action.

The decision to ballot workers follows a dispute with Lincolnshire County Council, which found in favour of the council’s management.

A spokesman for Unison’s Lincolnshire branch said pay cuts imposed on the bridge keepers were implemented by the council without the agreement of staff or Unison.

The spokesman said: “As a result Unison members at the Cross Keys Bridge site have lost pay and allowances amounting to more than a 13.5 per cent cut in take-home pay.

“This pay cut comes at a time when local Government workers have faced a three-year pay freeze and utility bills, fuel, food, and housing costs continue rising.”

The Cross Keys is a Grade-II listed Victorian swing bridge which carries the A17 over the River Nene.

It is continually staffed and opens on demand to allow shipping to access Wisbech Port.

Unison served Lincolnshire County Council with the intention to ballot the bridge keepers on February 6.

The ballot will run from February 13-25.

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