Latest offer rejected

About 900 bus drivers in South Yorkshire will hold two 24 hour strikes after pay talks broke down today (July 18), Unite said.

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.

Earlier this week, the drivers rejected by a three-to-one majority a pay offer that was put forward by the profitable company.

Unite regional officer Phil Bown said, “We held talks with the management today to see if there was scope for a decent improvement in the offer, after our members overwhelmingly rejected it in a consultative ballot.

“Unfortunately, today the company came up with a pitiful new offer that could be measured in a few pence an hour following on from the one our members rejected this week,” he added.

“This latest offer, verging on the insulting, went no way to meet our members’ aspirations as household bills continue to soar – as a result, the drivers will strike for 24 hours on successive Saturdays, July 27 and August 3.

“However, Unite’s door is always open for a constructive dialogue to settle this dispute which will cause massive inconvenience for weekend bus travellers when the strikes occur.

“We can only reinforce the message 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.”

Unite has said that the services run by the company in Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham, as well as part of the Derbyshire Dales, will grind to a halt due to the strikes.

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