Over 600 drivers from First West of England's City Line will walk
out for two weeks while a demo will take place tomorrow
Bristol will again be brought to a standstill next month as over
600 drivers at First West of England's City Line have voted to
take two weeks of fresh strike action.
The drivers, members of Unite, are currently undertaking a
four-day strike, the last day of which is tomorrow (19
September), over pay.
After talks broke down between First West of England, part of
First Bus, and the union, workers from the affected depots,
Lawrence Hill and Hengrove, will now be walking out from 1 to 14
October. Given the number of drivers involved and the length of
the second wave of strikes, this will be extremely disruptive
with many cancellations and delays to services expected.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "First Bus is a very
profitable firm, but its hardworking workers are struggling to
pay the bills – the situation is deplorable and it is little
wonder they have voted to take further industrial action.
"This dispute has been entirely the fault of the employer who has
put profits over people throughout. We will support the affected
members every step of the way throughout this dispute."
Tomorrow (September 19) workers from both depots will come
together in a demo at Broad Quay near the Hippodrome in
Bristol, from 10am to 4pm, which members of the press are welcome
to attend.
Workers at City Line have struggled with historic low pay and
believe the current offer fails to address the
rising cost of living and the difficult job they do, which often
has long hours and puts them at risk of assault from the general
public.
Meanwhile, First Group PLC had an operating profit of £204.3m and
share dividends were increased by 45 per cent compared to the
previous year.
One worker said: "I am paying over half of my wages on rent alone
and have absolutely no savings. I can't even afford to pay into
my pension because it's just costing me so much to live right now
in Bristol. All I want is a wage rise that reflects the real
world.
"The company has to work with us drivers. We do a really hard
job, we face a lot of dangers and we have to protect our
passengers so we're constantly on high alert. We also get abused
from time to time and we don't get supported in that."
Another said: "We are striking for better pay because we don't
believe the company's offer is fair and reasonable. We believe we
are worth more than it has offered us.
“We often suffer abuse and rudeness while driving the buses.
Spitting happens and the company gives you barely any support
when you've been abused.”
Unite has offered to meet First West of England for further
negotiations, but it has refused to negotiate with Unite and has
also refused support from the conciliation service Acas.
The strikes which began on
Tuesday have already caused travel chaos, with many services not
running. This has impacted freshers' week in the city and is set
to cause travel chaos for those travelling to the semi-finals of
the Women's Rugby World Cup at Ashton Gate tomorrow (19
September).
Unite regional officer Amy Roberts said: "Unite has attempted to
negotiate with First West of England in good faith, but it has
been unwilling to come back to the table.
"We appreciate the strikes have been very disruptive, especially
for those making essential journeys, but drivers have felt no
choice but to extend the industrial action given the way they
have been treated by First West of England.
"These workers do a difficult, essential job and deserve to be
paid fairly. First West of England has a chance to stop further
disruption, but must come back to the table with a fair offer to
do so."
