Two days of bus strikes this month have been called off after drivers won a 5.2 per cent pay rise.
Members of the Unite union working for both Brighton and Hove Buses and Metrobus in Crawley were due to walk out next Monday and Wednesday, 15 October.
But the union said today the action has been cancelled.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “I’m delighted our members have received a pay rise that is nothing more than they deserve. They were prepared to take to the picket line and stood firm in their demands until they got an offer that was acceptable.”
Brighton Bus Company and Crawley Metrobus is owned by the Go Ahead group, based in Newcastle, which itself is owned by overseas transport conglomerates Kinetic and Globalvia. Both firms are hugely profitable and have worldwide transport operations.
Unite regional officer Janet Nobbs said: “Our members do an incredibly stressful job, driving at all times of day and night, in all weathers throughout the year. They keep Brighton and Crawley’s workers and students moving.
“This pay award is absolutely deserved in the face of a cost of living crisis and I’m really pleased to see our members win this dispute.
“But there remain significant issues with management practices that need addressing and Unite will be holding its feet to the fire in the coming weeks and months as we stand up for our members’ rights.”
Ed Wills, managing director of Brighton and Hove and Metrobus, said: “Workers, school children, students and everyone in the community who rely on our bus services can expect a full service on both days and continue to go about their daily lives without disruption.
“This includes the brand new 3X route from Hangleton to the universities that launched on Sunday.”
I wouldn’t have given into their demands I would have sacked them all it wouldn’t surprise me if Donald stopped this strike as he has single handedly brought the Israel Gaza war to a conclusion well almost and is doing the same for the Russo Ukraine war thank God for the Americans
Not sure if this is a ragebait post Michael, but if it isn’t, GTFO the internet and put down your phone. If it is, r/woosh me I guess.
Then you wouldn’t have had busses running lol. £35K to drive a HGV and deal with the general public is not excessive money. Driving a train for £65k is
A good answer.
Off you pop to the US of A.
Donald awaits you and your support.
I think it is a grisly job which should be well paid but nationalise the transport network
Devolution potentially can do that, Sue.
I think all Buses should be put in the governments hand especially Go-ahead as most of the drivers are arrogant and rude and are not dealt with accordingly with sackings
I find it very difficult to use buses.
I do not get any help from bus drivers, due to my disabilities.
I always experience buses running late and never in service.
Bus drivers have always been rude to me, because of my disabilities.
I often wonder if the people who say a group of striking workers should just be sacked have ever thought of the consequences of actually doing that?
There aren’t an army of army of out of work bus drivers ready to step in at a moments notice.
It takes several weeks to train and certify a bus driver.
Bus drivers are route trained. If you’re not trained on a route you can’t just be swapped into another to fill in a gap.
It would take months to get back to any sort of normal service level.
Wonder if they still want all the drivers sacked?
I find comments like that are generally performative at best and fold under any sort of scrutiny.
I think the bus drivers do an incredibly demanding job and deserve to be paid a decent wage for doing so. The latest award seems a very fair one to me in light of inflation hovering around the 4% mark at the present moment. I am not a bus driver, nor do I work for the company, I am a normal fare paying passenger who relies on the buses to get me from a to b safely and I have to say that in the 50 or so years of living here I have only ever encountered rudeness three or four times. The majority of time it is passengers who are rude to the driver giving grief and venting anger when most of the time it is entirely unjustified. To those who say most bus drivers are rude, take a look in the mirror and think about what you say because it is simply not true!
I think you touch upon a wider issue where society struggles to simply show a level of decorum and be nice to each other. We can be frustrated without being rude. We can debate amicably without resorting to insults.