Crunch pay talks

Crunch pay talks are due to be held tomorrow (July 18) in a bid to avert strike action by about 900 bus drivers in South Yorkshire, Unite said today (July 17).

Unite said that its members, employed by First South Yorkshire Limited, will hold two 24 hour strikes on Saturday, July 27 and Saturday, August 3, starting at 2am, if there is no settlement to the dispute.

Yesterday (July 16), the drivers rejected by a three-to-one majority a pay offer that was put forward by the profitable company.

“We are holding crunch talks with the management tomorrow to see if there is scope for a further improvement in the offer, after our members overwhelmingly rejected it in a consultative ballot,” said Unite regional officer Phil Bown.

“If there is no breakthrough, our members will strike for 24 hours on successive Saturdays, July 27 and August 3.”

“We can only reiterate that the parent company First Group is highly profitable and made £65m in profits from its UK bus division for the year ending March 31, 2019. This is a company awash with cash, which can well afford to make a decent pay offer.”

If the strikes go ahead, the services run by the company in Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham, as well as part of the Derbyshire Dales, will grind to a halt, according to the union.

The workers had voted by 69 per cent for strike action and by 79 per cent for industrial action short of a strike.