‘New dawn’

A new era in employment relations is possible at Arriva Durham County Ltd, following its 650 bus drivers voting in favour of a revised pay offer by a large margin.

Unite said today (January 25) that the drivers, based at Darlington, Durham, Redcar, Stockton and Whitby, voted  by a large majority in favour of the pay package which will run to March 2021.

Unite said that the 10 days of strike action by the drivers due to have started on Sunday (January 27) will now not go-ahead.

“We can confirm that our members have voted to accept the revised pay offer,” said Unite regional officer Ray Sanderson. “Our members will now be working normally, as the strike action has been called off.

“We would like to pay tribute to our members for the strong solidarity they have shown during the course of this dispute, which has helped enormously to reach the settlement we now have,” he added.

“We look forward to a constructive dialogue with the management going forward for the benefit of the travelling public and our hardworking members. Hopefully, this will herald a new dawn in employment relations with the company.”

The new two year deal will see a reduction in the time, from five years to three, it takes Arriva Durham area drivers to reach a new top pay rate of ÂŁ10.60 an hour.

In addition, there are hourly rate increases for drivers with fewer than three years’ service, with all increases being backdated to March 2018.