Unrest grows at First Group as bus workers' rejection of zero pay
deal snowballs
2nd October 2009
Two and a half thousand bus workers at First Group are set to
take strike action in some of the country's biggest transport
regions in mounting disputes over an imposed zero per cent pay
deal. The strikes are set to go ahead as FirstGroup's national
management refuses to allow local management at its 19 subsidiaries
to fund a pay rise for its employees.
Unite, the union at First Group, is warning that unless the
company alters its aggressive negotiating position, these strikes
could soon be followed by others across the company's largest
regions, meaning that thousands of bus services will be hit
simultaneously.
The union recently announced that all 833 of its members at
Bury, Bolton and Wigan bus depots will take part in a further four
days of strike action on Monday 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th October.
Drivers have already held four 24-hour stoppages in the last few
weeks, while Unite's attempts to resolve the pay deal by engaging
the help of the conciliation service Acas in an attempt to break
the deadlock came to nothing as FirstGroup continues to refuse to
budge on fair pay.
With strike ballots at First South Yorkshire also announced on
Monday, September 28th, and a third ballot in First's Essex
subsidiary yesterday (Thursday) returning a 95 per cent vote in
favour of industrial action, the company now faces three
simultaneous disputes with future strike action likely to be
co-ordinated across the three disputes. Further, balloting is
at an advanced stage in First's large London and West Yorkshire
subsidiaries, which are likely to join the growing rejection of the
zero per cent pay policy imposed by First's main board, bringing
the total number on strike to some 8,000 bus workers.
Unite is also warning the company that its strategy to force
reballots is also backfiring as majorities for strike action rise
massively, with, at some sites, nine out of 10 workers voting to
strike.
Unite's national organiser for transport, Graham Stevenson,
said: "Our members up and down the country are simply furious at
First's imposed zero per cent pay freeze and will not accept
it. This dispute is set to escalate massively unless First
rethinks its position.
"This is a company with a record £134 million in annual profits
but it refuses a fair pay rise to those who earn this for them.
Other companies in the same industry are settling at around
2.5 per cent.
"Forget the ending of the bonus culture, it's alive and well in
First's boardroom. At the beginning of 2009, First management
confirmed a 15 per cent bonanza for shareholders for each of the
last five years, funding this by slashing jobs, wages and terms and
conditions. Enough is enough. Bus workers are only asking for
a fraction of what the fat cat executives have given themselves so
that they can support their families and keep pace with the cost of
living."
Unite is further concerned that industrial relations at
FirstGroup will be damaged for the long-term by the company's
determination to impose the pay freeze nationally, bypassing the
national forum established to resolve terms and conditions matters
on the basis of mutual co-operation.
Graham Stevenson added: "This imposition of a national pay
freeze places in jeopardy all national understandings between us. I
appeal to First to meet us nationally and confirm that they are
willing to reconsider the aggressive and hostile stance they have
adopted in the last few months. Unite will place this on
record. From today, the die is cast. Unite cannot and will not walk
away from its thousands of members and only First can enable a
peaceable outcome."
ENDS
For further information, please call Pauline Doyle on 07976 832
861
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