- Staff including drivers, cleaners and engineers at the
Stagecoach North East group will walk out next month
There is set to be significant disruption to bus services across
the North East during the summer holidays as nearly 600 Unite
members at Busways Travel Services including drivers have voted
to strike in August.
The dispute comes after workers at the firm were offered a below
inflation pay rise of 3.3 per cent. The hourly pay for drivers in
the North East - £15.01 per hour - is well below the pay of those
doing the same job in the North West.
Busways Travel Services is part of the Stagecoach North East
group. Stagecoach is a highly profitable firm, with figures from
last year showing it recorded a total operating profit of £51.1m
- up from £33.1m - and a profit before taxation of £47.6m.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "Stagecoach is
prioritising profits over people and our hardworking members
deserve better.
"With so many workers set to take action, strikes will no doubt
have a huge impact on bus services. However, this disruption is
entirely the fault of Stagecoach and we will back our members
every step of the way during this dispute."
Workers who have voted to take action include 500 members based
at the Slatyford and Walkergate depots in Newcastle upon Tyne,
including bus drivers. The majority of passenger bus services to
and from Newcastle city centre operate from these depots meaning
strikes will be extremely disruptive.
Meanwhile over 80 engineers and cleaners based at these depots as
well as Sunderland and South Shields will take strike action at
the same time, on Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 August as well as
Monday 18 and Thursday 21 August. This action will impact
commuters as well as families taking trips during the school
summer holidays with bus services likely to be cancelled and
severely delayed.
Unite regional officer Dave Telford said: "We appreciate that
this will be frustrating for passengers across the region, but
this is all down to the greed of Stagecoach.
"Our members do a very hard job, working long, unsociable hours
and deserve a better pay offer. We urge Stagecoach to rethink and
come back to Unite with an acceptable pay offer before it is too
late."
