Drivers are to vote on a new pay offer – after threatening to strike in Huddersfield on Monday. The First drivers will vote on an improved offer after a bitter 11-month pay dispute.
The latest offer was made after talks yesterday between Unite union officials and First managers. Now the union will put the offer to the 188 drivers who work out of Huddersfield bus station.
The ballot will take place next week and that means the planned 24-hour walkout which could have taken place on Monday has been cancelled. Drivers had voted 129-16 in favour of eight one-day strikes in a postal ballot.
The dispute centres on a pay award which was due in May 2010. The union said the original management offer was with conditions which would effectively mean extra driving time on top of the 37-hour week currently met by the drivers. But yesterday a revised offer was made although details have not been revealed. The drivers currently earn between £7.48 and £10,25 per hour.
2 Mar 2011
Metroline workers accept pay offer
Workers at Metroline bus garages in north and north west London voted to accept a pay offer from management on Friday of last week. The vote was 56 percent to accept, 44 percent to reject.
Some garages voted by as much as 90 percent to reject, others voted by 84 percent to accept and some were split down the middle. The pay dispute has dragged on since April of last year. In December workers voted by an overwhelming 87 percent in an indicative ballot to be balloted for industrial action.
The new offer that has been accepted is a slight improvement on the initial offer—a 2 percent rise on all rates of pay from 2010 with 1.5 percent in back pay from April 2010. The Unite union asked members to reject the new offer but the discrepancy in voting across garages shows that there was not sufficient unity to win the ballot.
Some workers were not confident that the union was prepared to fight all out to win. As the dispute dragged on for ten months, workers’ confidence was whittled down.
Some garages voted by as much as 90 percent to reject, others voted by 84 percent to accept and some were split down the middle. The pay dispute has dragged on since April of last year. In December workers voted by an overwhelming 87 percent in an indicative ballot to be balloted for industrial action.
The new offer that has been accepted is a slight improvement on the initial offer—a 2 percent rise on all rates of pay from 2010 with 1.5 percent in back pay from April 2010. The Unite union asked members to reject the new offer but the discrepancy in voting across garages shows that there was not sufficient unity to win the ballot.
Some workers were not confident that the union was prepared to fight all out to win. As the dispute dragged on for ten months, workers’ confidence was whittled down.
28 Feb 2011
Twenty-two routes cut in Cambridge
Cambridge
Bus operator Stagecoach has announced it will axe 22 bus routes – and reduce the frequency of a further 15. Evening and weekend journeys will be scrapped on several routes serving the city, and rural Huntingdonshire will lose a number of services.
The changes will come into force on April 17. Philip Norwell, Stagecoach Cambridgeshire’s commercial director, said the withdrawal of public subsidies for some routes was a factor. He told the News the cut in the amount of cash it would receive for carrying passengers with concessionary passes made other services “less commercially viable”.
The changes will come into force on April 17. Philip Norwell, Stagecoach Cambridgeshire’s commercial director, said the withdrawal of public subsidies for some routes was a factor. He told the News the cut in the amount of cash it would receive for carrying passengers with concessionary passes made other services “less commercially viable”.
The last time Stagecoach announced it's half year profits - for the period to October 2010 - they had risen by 45% to £124.3 million.
24 Feb 2011
Metroline drivers vote on rotten pay offer
Drivers at Metroline in North and North West London will be balloting tomorrow on the company’s latest offer. Low pay offers will be familiar to every worker in the industry. Metroline’s offer, a two year deal, amounts to 2 percent on all rates of pay from 2010 with 1.5 percent in back pay.
The deal worsens the rate of pay for Boxing Day working and takes away a £38 enhancement for Good Friday working. Unite is rightly urging drivers to reject what amounts to a pay cut. If drivers were to accept, they would be allowing Metroline to drive down their standard of living. The Retail Price Index (RPI), the best measure of inflation, now stands at 5.1 percent.
The government’s own (less accurate) measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), stands at 4 percent.
The deal worsens the rate of pay for Boxing Day working and takes away a £38 enhancement for Good Friday working. Unite is rightly urging drivers to reject what amounts to a pay cut. If drivers were to accept, they would be allowing Metroline to drive down their standard of living. The Retail Price Index (RPI), the best measure of inflation, now stands at 5.1 percent.
The government’s own (less accurate) measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), stands at 4 percent.
ComfortDelgro, Metroline's parent company, announced in December its operating profits are up by 11.7 percent to £187 million. The money is there to pay drivers a decent wage.
Canadian drivers vote for strike action
British Columbia, Canada
Kamloops transit and HandiDart drivers have voted overwhelmingly – 98% – in favour of striking. The 114 drivers are represented by the Canadian Auto Workers Union. National President Mike Byrne say with the way the runs are set up, and the split shifts they work, drivers are under a lot of pressure – and they took it personally when the employer offered no pay increase. The drivers and office workers can issue 72-hour strike notice any time within the next 90 days.
10 Feb 2011
Egyptian transport workers strike against Mubarak
By Hossam el-Hamalawy
Cairo Public Transportation workers, who started a strike today in five Garages: Nasr Station, Fateh Station, Ter’a Station, Amiriya Station, Mezzalat Station, Sawwah Station, have issued a statement with a list of demands, calling for overthrowing Mubarak.
No public buses will roam Cairo tomorrow, except those buses that will bring the drivers to the central station in Nasr City’s el-Gabal el-Ahmar, where the strikers have announced they will declare an independent union.
The strikers’ statement has also called for abolishing the emergency law, removing NDP from the state institutions, dissolving the parliament, drafting new constitution, forming a national unity government, setting a national minimum wage of LE1200 and prosecuting corrupt officials.
This comes as strikes have spread literally everywhere… It’s happening people… It’s happening… The working class has entered the arena with full force today. Mubarak’s regime’s fate will be sealed off soon!
The strikers’ statement has also called for abolishing the emergency law, removing NDP from the state institutions, dissolving the parliament, drafting new constitution, forming a national unity government, setting a national minimum wage of LE1200 and prosecuting corrupt officials.
This comes as strikes have spread literally everywhere… It’s happening people… It’s happening… The working class has entered the arena with full force today. Mubarak’s regime’s fate will be sealed off soon!
9 Feb 2011
Danish transport hit by strikes
Last Thursday transport workers in Denmark stopped work in a day-long wildcat strike over a pension reform proposal that the government has made the centrepiece of their election campaign.
Workers angered by the proposal to abolish an early pension scheme halted city buses and stopped operations at Copenhagen airport and some harbours, union officials said.
The centre-right government has plans to phase out an early retirement scheme that allows Danes to retire at 60 instead of the statutory pension age of 65 and raise the basic retirement age to 67.
Workers angered by the proposal to abolish an early pension scheme halted city buses and stopped operations at Copenhagen airport and some harbours, union officials said.
The centre-right government has plans to phase out an early retirement scheme that allows Danes to retire at 60 instead of the statutory pension age of 65 and raise the basic retirement age to 67.
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