{"id":339069,"date":"2025-08-12T18:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/339069\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T18:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T18:07:14","slug":"merseyside-could-be-hit-by-bus-strike-as-drivers-ballot-for-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/339069\/","title":{"rendered":"Merseyside could be hit by bus strike as drivers ballot for action"},"content":{"rendered":"

It comes as drivers demand a pay riseDan Haygarth<\/strong><\/a> Liverpool Daily Post Editor and Regeneration Reporter<\/p>\n

15:34, 12 Aug 2025Updated 17:37, 12 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

\"AA Stagecoach bus in Birkenhead(Image: Dan Haygarth \/ Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\n

Bus drivers could walk out on strike in Merseyside in a row over pay. Stagecoach drivers based in Birkenhead<\/a> are among 500 in the North West balloting for strike action, according to trade union Unite.<\/p>\n

The workers in Birkenhead, Preston and Chorley are demanding a pay rise that reflects disparities between their pay and drivers in the same areas, the union said. Unite claimed that Arriva drivers<\/a> in Birkenhead earn \u00a32.69 an hour more than Birkenhead Stagecoach drivers and \u00a32.13 an hour more than Stagecoach drivers in Chorley and Preston.<\/p>\n

The workers are being balloted for strike until August 28. If the ballot is successful, industrial action<\/a> will be scheduled soon after. Stagecoach said it has made a pay offer to the workers, which has been rejected, and it wishes to avoid industrial action.<\/p>\n

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Stagecoach<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

“Unite will be providing maximum support to our Stagecoach members at Birkenhead, Chorley and Preston.”<\/p>\n

\"AA Stagecoach bus in Liverpool city centre(Image: Julian Hamilton\/Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n

Unite regional officer Mike Woods added: “There is still time to avoid strike action but that requires Stagecoach to put forward an offer our members can accept.”<\/p>\n

Matt Davies, Managing Director of Stagecoach Merseyside, Cheshire and South Lancashire said: “We have met with the trade union representatives, who have rejected our offer that would see pay rise at our Birkenhead Rock Ferry depot by over 4% during the first year and then by a further 2.9% in a second year, shortened to nine months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe union have also rejected our offer of a 3.2% pay rise covering 12 months with a further 3.2% from May next year. This would ensure that our Preston and Chorley sites continue to offer the highest hourly rates in Lancashire.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain committed to ensuring that drivers do receive an affordable pay increase and are keen to hold further talks and reach a resolution.<\/p>\n

“We want to avoid industrial action, which is damaging to everyone and causes severe disruption to the daily lives of our customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny industrial action would not affect services running from the Gillmoss depot, which would continue to operate as normal.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For the latest news and breaking news visit http:\/\/www.liverpoolecho.co.uk\/news\/<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Join the Liverpool ECHO Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community to receive the latest news straight to your phone by clicking here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the Echo Daily newsletter here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It comes as drivers demand a pay riseDan Haygarth Liverpool Daily Post Editor and Regeneration Reporter 15:34, 12…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,45760,3374,393,4884,179,5031,1263,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-339069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-bus-travel","10":"tag-employment","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-stagecoach","15":"tag-transport","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}