Bus passengers in Yorkshire are braced for substantial strike action next month as workers challenge Arriva’s failure to tackle low pay.

Over 650 members of Unite, the UK’s leading union, have recorded 96 per cent vote in favour of strike action following the company’s pitiful offer of a 4.1 per cent pay increase, far below the real inflation rate (RPI) which currently stands at 11.1 per cent.

Strikes to begin in June 

Indefinite (all out) strike action will begin on Monday 6 June involving bus drivers and engineers based at depots in Castleford, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Selby and Wakefield.

Unite says that German-owned Arriva’s low pay across Yorkshire means bus workers are struggling to make ends meet amid the cost of living crisis. Newly recruited bus drivers are paid only £9.78 an hour - just 28 pence above the minimum wage

Real terms pay cut

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Arriva is part of a multi-billion company.  It has no business demanding that workers get by on pitiful low pay so that its boardroom can get ever-richer.  Arriva can easily afford to pay decently - it should do just that, or face industrial action.

 “Unite’s members, like all workers, are being pummelled by the cost of living crisis - they cannot and will not accept a real terms pay cut. Unite will be giving our members its full and total support until this dispute is resolved.”

Significant disruption

Unite regional officer Phil Bown said: “Strike action will inevitably cause significant disruption and delays for the Yorkshire travelling public but this dispute is entirely of Arriva’s own making. Our members are already suffering from poverty pay and the company is trying to make the situation even worse.

 “Even at this late stage strike action and the disruption it will cause can still be avoided if Arriva makes a realistic pay offer and returns to the negotiating table.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Yorkshire bus workers employed by Arriva to ballot for strike action in pay dispute

For more information please contact Unite senior communications officer Barckley Sumner on 020 3371 2067 or 07802 329235.

Email: [email protected]

Unite is the UK and Ireland’s leading union fighting to protect and advance jobs, pay and conditions for members working across all sectors of the economy. The general secretary is Sharon Graham.