Hundreds of bus workers across Wales are to take strike action
this month after First Cymru refused to offer a back dated pay
rise.
Drivers, cleaners, engineers, stores workers and administrative
staff in depots across Wales will be walking out for four days in
October with the threat of more strikes if First Cymru, part of
First Group, continue to try and short-change essential workers.
First Cymru already pay some of the lowest wages in the industry.
Members of Unite rejected a five per pay rise because the
employer was trying to withhold 60 per cent of owed back pay. The
company also pays new recruits an even lower wage for 12 months
creating a two-tier workforce that sows unhappiness among staff.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “First Group is
a hugely profitable company making millions yet it is treating
its workers, and the communities they come from in Wales, with
utter disdain.
“It is simply unacceptable to pay poverty wages, offer a paltry
pay rise and then try and withhold back pay. Our members won't
stand for it and they have the full support of their union in
this dispute.”
First Cymru is part of the First Group transport network. In the
last financial year First Group made over £200 million profit and
paid its chief executive over £3 million.
Staff are demanding a pay award of just £15 per hour to bring
them in line with Cardiff Bus and Arriva in North Wales. Due to
First Cymru refusing this reasonable demand staff at depots in
Swansea, Port Talbot, Bridgend, Carmarthen, Haverford West and
Ammanford will be walking out on 22-25 October.
Unite regional coordinating officer Alan McCarthy
said: “This strike will shut down the bus network across
huge swathes of the country but it is a dispute entirely of First
Cymru's own making. All our members want is to be paid in line
with other colleagues at other bus companies and for that pay to
be backdated.
“First Cymru has messed around in negotiations for long enough
and will now see the anger of our members on the picket line.”
