BUS drivers in Bolton, Bury and Wigan are set to start a series of 24-hour strikes on Friday September 11, unions have revealed.
Subsequent walk-outs have been planned for Monday, September 14, and the following two Mondays.
Row
The union Unite has confirmed that a total of 833 First Bus workers, the majority of them drivers, will take part in the action in a row over annual pay rises.
It follows First Group's imposition of a 'zero per cent pay deal', the union said. Unite accused First Bus of using the recession as 'an excuse to freeze workers' pay' on the back of the company posting an annual profit of £134m.
Talks with conciliation service ACAS have failed to resolve the dispute but both parties will meet on Wednesday, September 9, for further talks. The strike is expected to disrupt hundreds of bus routes.
Exactly which routes will be hit have not been revealed. Unite's industrial organiser Bobby Morton said: "This decision to impose a zero per cent pay deal is based on greed. First Group made millions of pounds in profit this year, despite the recession, yet are refusing to play fair by the employees who helped deliver these results.
"These workers are already struggling in the recession to support their families - they need support from their employer and this insulting pay offer is simply not acceptable.
"This dispute could be resolved if the company returns to the table with a reasonable pay offer."
The strike action follows a resounding yes vote at the ballot box. Workers are expected to picket at depots in Bury, Bolton and Wigan. First said Greater Manchester's entire bus services would not be affected. Drivers, the company said, were in 'a far better position than many people are facing in a difficult economic climate'.
'Disappointed'
A spokesman said: "We are hugely disappointed that our drivers at Bolton, Bury and Wigan depots have voted in favour of industrial action, creating a completely unnecessary situation where no one wins.
"All we have been asking is that our drivers earn the same this year as last year - no less - and that's a far better position than many people are facing in a difficult economic climate.
"We have to be realistic about what we can deliver and funding a pay award for drivers in this environment is simply not possible.
"We will continue to do all we can to resolve this situation and the door remains open to discuss a way forward that will benefit our staff, our business and our customers."
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Bus drivers set to strike
September 05, 2009
WALK OUTS PLANNED First Buses
Showing comments 1 to 23 and replies | View All
Hindsight (04/09/2009 at 19:05)
Macca (04/09/2009 at 19:39)
Rammylad (05/09/2009 at 13:21)
Dabtab, Tyldesley (05/09/2009 at 14:30)
A. Coates, manchester (06/09/2009 at 00:23)
you do the job for a day, then see if the job isn't academically or physically challenging
Joe Pub, Manchester (06/09/2009 at 00:44)
Knowall, stretford end (06/09/2009 at 12:52)
A. Coates, manchester (06/09/2009 at 17:25)
petan, openshaw (06/09/2009 at 19:40)
Simon Bowers (07/09/2009 at 11:49)
Shocking, the public lose all sympathy for services once the providers go on strike. At least these people have a job, there is a damned sight more people ON the bus trying to find a job!
The Pope, Rome (07/09/2009 at 14:25)
They have a crazy woman who works for them. She wouldn't open the doors outside Urbis because she didn't think the bus stopped there and circled her fingers round the side of her head as if I was stupid. I then had to sprint to Deansgate to catch it there. I told her not to call me stupid and she told me to get off the bus!. None the less I went and sat down. When my stop came up she wouldn't let me off and so in doing so abducted me! She eventualluy stopped after saying she was telling the police to come and meet me. I waited and none came. The complaint letter apologised for her bevavior. This is just one example.
The service is poor and 70% of the staff are the reason for this.
Don't tell me keeping a bus on time and balancing some change is academically and physically challenging. Be a marine or a scientist then tell me which is the more demanding.
They get paid what the job warrents.
Get to work!
A. Coates, manchester (07/09/2009 at 17:46)
please don't tar ALL bus drivers with the same brush. the majority of bus drivers are courtious and helpful, sometimes above and beyond the call of duty. like i said to rammylad, you come and do the job for a day, or even a week, thyen your attitude of bus drivers will change dramatically. i'm 3rd generation in my family to be a bus driver, and it's not as easy as it looks.
michael moulding (07/09/2009 at 18:12)
As a fellow Unite member in another organisation, I agree with the drivers that it is not fair to expect a nil per cent annual increase when the companys profits who they work for are in the tens of millions of pounds.
As a frequent daily public transport user, who has to pay Firsts extortionate public transport fares compared to other company's like Stagecoach, it is about time our elected politicians and GMPTE exercised their power and stopped the cartel that exists in and around Salford, Swinton and Bolton where First monopolise the routes which means they do not have to compete with other bus companies to keep their fares at a reaonable level.
No doubt, when First do acknowledge it cannot treat its workforce in the way it does and gives their drivers a rise, no doubt this cost will be added to our fares to increase them even higher despite the enormous profits they make at our expense.
The sooner public transport go back into public ownership the better where emphasis will be on fair treatment to employees, cheap, environmentally friendly public transport and the need for profit removed.
Black Flag (07/09/2009 at 19:28)
And of course a massive increase in cost for taxpayers, a decline in service standards and a complete loss of interest in meeting the demands of the passenger.
Rorschach, Round the Corner (08/09/2009 at 20:27)
I appreciate it's not an exact science, but the 53 seems to come and go more than ten minutes earlier than it's due 2-3 times a week when I'm either on my way to work, resulting in my being late, or on my way home, which is just a pain.
It's rubbish, frankly.
stephanie fawcett (09/09/2009 at 12:47)
Dino Mavridis (10/09/2009 at 13:38)
- Don't even think about judging someone else's job until you've tried it yourself. A bus driver's job must be demanding, and each one is responsible for hundreds of lives every day!
- It's utterly ridiculous of the First bosses (and I do hope they are reading this) to say words like 'current economic climate' to justify no pay rise. First bosses, if you have indeed published a £130 million profit for your business, then this is the current economic climate for you, a climate of profits ranging in the hundreds of millions of pounds, so by saying what you've said, it really sounds like you're saying "in the current climate of quite high profits, we cannot give a pay rise to our staff who made these profits happen" - that sounds either brainless or plain greedy and stupid.
@Black Flag: the "complete loss of interest in meeting passengers' standards" is in fact the current situation with the transport industry privatised, so I think you've got your arguments the wrong way round.
Black Flag (10/09/2009 at 14:19)
No, I've got it the right way round, although what I actually said was "a complete loss of interest in meeting the demands of the passenger". In an open market, the carrier has to meet the demands of the passenger, otherwise they end up worse off. A state monopoly doesn't have to worry about that, so they can just plod along offering a stagnant service. It was perfectly illustrated when the monopoly in Greater Manchester was broken and companies such at BeeLine started operating local responsive routes which there was demand for, but which the local authorities had never bothered to service.
When you turn an industry into a state monopoly, the influence that the customer has decreases, while the influence that the staff have increases. It's no surprise that the TUC is so keen on nationalisation - it allows the staff to rip-off the customer.
citycentre, manchester (10/09/2009 at 15:07)
"When you turn an industry into a state monopoly, the influence that the customer has decreases, while the influence that the staff have increases"
Same with private, local monopolies, is there any way to get br smaller services, to give a real choice as opposed to choosing stagecoach or first depending on your destination?
Black Flag (10/09/2009 at 15:42)
They aren't monopolies in the same sense that nationalised industries are. Nationalised industries are coercive monopolies, as the government forcibly prevents anybody setting up in competition. Even if there is only one supplier in an open market, it still isn't a coercive monopoly, because others are not forbidden from entering the market. That is significant in the customer/supplier balance of power, because in an open market, if the staff of one company continually strike, at some point another company capable of offering a less sporadic service will step in. In a nationalised industry, the staff can strike as much as they like, because they know nobody can come along to take advantage of their lack of service.
"is there any way to get br smaller services, to give a real choice as opposed to choosing stagecoach or first depending on your destination?"
In the main, there is real choice, as people can also use cars, bicycles, trains, trams, etc. which provide genuine competition for the bus companies. In terms of increased competition between companies on similar routes, I think the only way to achieve that is to have more people using buses, as there seems to be a tendency to have multiple operators when there are sufficient passengers (such as on Wilmslow Road). The problem is that, as soon as that happens, people start complaining that there is too much competition!
citycentre, manchester (10/09/2009 at 22:43)
The first part of your message in part echoes what I said last week, that if there was more competition there would be more incentive for first to avoid a strike, as they would risk losing custom, as their isn't the probably won't.
Even if First was subject to repeated strike action they could withstand any attempts by smaller companies to challenge them by the tried and proven method of flooding routes and blocking stops to force out competition.
"In the main, there is real choice, as people can also use cars, bicycles, trains, trams, etc"
Which would apply equally to a state owned bus company.
Since the action is described as occuring in Wigan, Bolton and Bury the options are rather limited, one local train line through Wigan with about 6 stops and no trams at all, so there may be some long walks to the nearest stations; I think two local lines through Bolton, though the Lostock/ Adligton service is only hourly, also no trams, Bury tram if you want to go to Manchester, or two stops to Heaton park, nothing in any other direction?
citycentre, manchester (10/09/2009 at 22:49)
I never said that, and would love more competition.
The main problem I had with trying to commute by bus (before my city centre days) was the unreliabilty; there was a 20 minute service but maybe once a week the bus didnt appear, usually due to driver absence i was told; since this often meant the next bus was already full and sometines didn't stop, this meant arriving at work an hour early to be safe, or risk being 30 min + late, which was deemed unacceptable. Since there was only one operator they didn't seem to care, presumably thinking that with no train or tram for miles in any direction they had a suffcient captive customer base who couldn't simply buy a car or cycle as you suggest is so easy, that they needn't bother to improve.
Black Flag (11/09/2009 at 11:48)
Sorry if I created the wrong impression; that comment wasn't directed at you. I was just hinting at the tendency that some people have to complain about some routes having too many buses.
"Even if First was subject to repeated strike action they could withstand any attempts by smaller companies to challenge them by the tried and proven method of flooding routes and blocking stops to force out competition."
I'm not so sure. I'm not personally aware of First using those tactics, but I do remember Stagecoach responding to competition on the 192 route by offering fares which were clearly well below cost. However, that strategy requires the person undertaking it to offer a reasonable service at the same time. If they were flooding the routes half the time, but running no buses the other half because the drivers were strike, I think they'd lose custom; not just to other bus companies but to other modes of transport too.
"Which would apply equally to a state owned bus company [having competition in the form of rail, cycle, car, tram, etc.]."
There are two crucial differences. Firstly, when the state owns the buses, it tends to own the trains too, so there is no incentive to stop passengers deserting the bus if they will tend to use the train instead. Similarly, if they switch to the car, fuel duty revenues go up, so the traveller is far more of a captive revenue stream. Secondly, the state doesn't have to rely on custom to survive. If a private operator has no customers, they go bust. If the state has no customers, they can fall back on tax revenues, so the incentives are much weaker.
"Since there was only one operator they didn't seem to care, presumably thinking that with no train or tram for miles in any direction they had a suffcient captive customer base who couldn't simply buy a car or cycle as you suggest is so easy, that they needn't bother to improve."
That all depends on whether or not the operator is happy to just have the customers they perceive as a captive base. I don't think most do. Businesses want custom. Conversely, I think what you highlight is a major problem with public ownership. When the buses were publicly owned, passenger numbers dropped dramatically. People steadily drifted away to the car and the bus management had very little incentive to stop it happening.