Strikes taking
place next week by 600 bus drivers at First West of England's
City Line will go
ahead next week, causing severe disruption to services in
inner-city Bristol and the surrounding area.
The drivers, members of Unite, operate out of the Lawrence Hill
and Hengrove Bus depots. These depots serve inner-city bus routes
in the city as well as Bristol Airport, the local universities
and Amazon's Bristol warehouse.
Previous industrial action from 4 to 8 September had been
suspended to allow Unite members to be balloted on a new pay
offer, after drivers previously rejected a
two-year pay deal, However, members have now voted to reject the
latest offer from First West of England.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "First
Group is a very profitable company and can afford to come back
with an improved offer that is acceptable to our bus
drivers.
"Unite will fully support our members throughout
their strike action, which has been caused by the employer
putting profits over people."
First West of England is part of First Group PLC. Last year,
First Group PLC had an operating profit of £204.3m and share
dividends were increased by 45 per cent compared to the previous
year.
Strikes will take place from 16 to 19 September.
Due to the number of drivers involved, industrial action will
cause a lot of cancellations and delays to bus services.
Unite regional officer Ken Fish said: "There is still
an opportunity for First West of England to come back to the
negotiating table to stop this disruptive strike
action."
Planned strikes on the same dates next week by 400 drivers at
First West of England's Badgerline working at
the Bristol Marlborough Street, Bath, Wells and Weston-Super-Mare
depots have been called off after members voted to accept an
improved pay offer from the company.
