Around 7,500 members of Unite are balloting for strike action in areas including Birkenhead
A Stagecoach bus in Birkenhead(Image: Dan Haygarth / Liverpool ECHO)
Bus drivers are threatening a series of nationwide strikes in ongoing disputes over pay and conditions. Around 7,500 members of Unite are either striking or balloting to take industrial actions in areas including Birkenhead.
Other planned industrial action is set to take place in the north west in Chorley, Manchester and Stoke, as well as in places including Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Newcastle, Stoke and Swindon.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Bus employers everywhere need to get the message loud and clear: driver pay simply does not reflect the stresses and strains of the job. Fatigue, a lack of toilets, abuse and even assaults are a daily occurrence.
“Unite will fight tooth and nail for bus workers until wages and conditions improve across the sector.”
Strikes involving 2,000 London United workers in West London, 550 First workers in Bristol, 450 Cardiff Bus workers and 70 Go South West workers in Swindon have already been announced.
Further strikes involving thousands more bus workers are planned at other towns and cities in the coming weeks.
Unite has previously reported that bus drivers face abuse at work, with workers reporting that the number of incidents is increasing.
The union is also campaigning for improvements to rest breaks, toilet facilities and shift patterns to reduce fatigue.
Unite said strikes in Cardiff and Newcastle involving 600 bus workers will go ahead if deals being balloted on are rejected.
Unite has had 167 bus disputes since 2023 involving 42,626 workers.
The ECHO reported earlier this month that Birkenhead was one of three areas in the north west facing bus chaos with 500 Stagecoach drivers balloted for strike action over pay. Unite said Arriva bus drivers earned £2.69 an hour more than their Stagecoach counterparts in Birkenhead.
Ms Graham said: “Stagecoach can well afford to put forward an offer that tackles the unfair pay disparities that exist not only between different companies but different garages at the same firm.”
Stagecoach previously told the ECHO that the union representatives from the Rock Ferry depot had rejected offers of a percentage pay rise.
A Stagecoach spokesperson said: “We want to avoid industrial action, which is damaging to everyone and causes severe disruption to the daily lives of our customers. Any industrial action would not affect services running from the Gillmoss depot, which would continue to operate as normal.”
Stagecoach is one of a number of bus operators in the Liverpool City Region. Peoples’ Bus, Arriva, HTL Buses and Cumfy Bus also operate services.