Unite calls off strike involving First West of England bus drivers
The union's General Secretary has described the accepting of an improved pay offer as a 'fantastic win'
Strikes by 600 bus drivers at First West of England have been called off.
Unite says an improved pay deal has been accepted by its members.
A spokesperson for the union said:
"They will receive an increase from £16 an hour to £16.50 backdated to 1 April. This goes up to £17 an hour backdated to 28 September then workers will have another rise to £17.40 an hour from 1 April 2025. This works out as an 8.6 per cent pay increase over two years.
"A major source of contention throughout the pay dispute was First West of England not committing to paying drivers backpay. To address this, workers at the City Line will get £250 non-consolidated backpay and their rest day working has gone up by 50p to £1.51 per hour."
"Drivers at the City Line had previously walked out from 19 to 22 September, causing mass disruption to inner city services in Bristol.
Unite's General Secretary Sharon Graham says it's a fantastic win for the staff involved:
“Bus drivers do a difficult, important job for the general public and deserve to be paid appropriately.
“This is a fantastic win for workers at First West of England, who stuck firmly together throughout the industrial action to get the pay offer they deserved. It is yet more proof that there is power in a union.”
The bus drivers work for the Lawrence Hill and Hengrove Bus depots, which service Bristol city centre, Bristol Airport and Amazon’s Bristol warehouse and local schools and universities. They had previously walked out as pay offers had not gone far enough to address issues with low pay.
Unite regional officer Amy Roberts said:
“We are very pleased with the outcome of this industrial action, as it has led to a fantastic new deal for the bus drivers, who do a very hard job.
“In particular, the issue of backpay had been a problem and Unite is very happy to have resolved this for our members at First West of England.
“It shows that if you want improved pay, you should join Unite and ask your colleagues to join too.”
In a statement a spokesperson for First West of England said:
"The planned bus driver strikes due to take place between 6th-14th October in Bristol have been cancelled, following constructive pay talks which has resulted in an agreement being reached.
"This means that all our services will be running as normal throughout this period.
"We’d like to thank you for your patience and understanding while we worked with Unite the Union to resolve the dispute, and we’re pleased to be able to continue providing your regular bus services."