More than 350 workers employed by London Transit bus organisation First Bus in West London have taken further strike action as their pay dispute escalates.
The employees, who are drivers, engineers and stores workers based at the Westbourne Park depot, are members of trade union Unite. After rejecting the organisation’s latest pay offer, which they said was below inflation, they will take part in additional days of industrial action.
Routes operated from Westbourne Park that will be affected include 13, 23, 31, N31, 218, 295 and 452.
The workers have already taken part in strike action for four days earlier this autumn, including Friday 26 September, Monday 29 September and Friday 14 November.
As well as today (Monday 17 November), additional scheduled strike dates include 18, 26, 27 and 28 November.
A spokesperson for First Bus London said: “We are disappointed that talks with Unite have broken down despite our continued efforts to reach a fair and reasonable agreement, including an above-inflation pay offer with full back pay for all employees. We urge Unite to re-engage in meaningful discussions so we can reach a resolution and end the ongoing disruption, which causes inconvenience for passengers and loss of earnings for our employees. We expect there to be little or no service on the affected routes, and we’re sorry for any disruption this may cause to people’s journeys. There will still be alternative travel options, but other routes may be busier than normal.”
Sharon Graham, general secretary at Unite, added: “This is disgraceful behaviour from a company making millions from London bus passengers. It shows an utter disregard for its workers and the hard work they do day in, day out. Our members won’t stand for such behaviour and Unite will back them all the way in this dispute with an organisation that has a history of anti-worker behaviour.”
