![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1756138577_746_0_DH_NIGHT_BUS_FEATURE-3.jpg\")
A Stagecoach bus in Birkenhead(Image: Dan Haygarth \/ Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\nHundreds of workers will begin industrial action later this month<\/p>\n
09:22, 05 Sep 2025Updated 09:29, 05 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
A Stagecoach bus in Birkenhead(Image: Dan Haygarth \/ Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\n
Bus services in parts of Merseyside are set to be severely disrupted as hundreds of drivers prepare to walk out on strike. Union bosses are predicting travel ‘chaos’ when the industrial action begins.<\/p>\n
A total of 500 bus drivers who work for Stagecoach<\/a> are demanding a pay rise that their union says reflects “huge disparities” between what they earn and other drivers working for different companies in the same areas. The Unite union has confirmed that the strike action will begin later this month.<\/p>\n The services affected will be in Birkenhead<\/a> in Wirral<\/a> as well as in Chorley and Preston.<\/p>\n The workers involved will take strike action from September 29 to October 5 and again from October 13 to October 19.<\/a><\/p>\n The union has said that industrial action will “intensify” if the dispute is not resolved.<\/p>\n Unite has pointed out that drivers in Birkenhead who work for rival operator Arriva earn \u00a32.69 an hour more than those working in the same area for Stagecoach and \u00a32.13 an hour more than Stagecoach drivers in Chorley and Preston.<\/p>\n Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: \u201cStagecoach can absolutely afford to table an offer that tackles the unfair disparities within the region.<\/p>\n \u201cStagecoach drivers at Birkenhead, Chorley and Preston will receive Unite\u2019s full support in taking strike action until that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Unite regional officer Mike Woods said: \u201cStagecoach is entirely responsible for the disruption that will be caused. It could have put forward an offer that addresses our members\u2019 legitimate concerns but has refused to.<\/p>\n “Industrial action can still be avoided but that will require Stagecoach tabling an acceptable offer.\u201d<\/p>\n Stagecoach previously told the ECHO<\/a> that the union representatives from the Rock Ferry depot<\/a> had rejected offers of a percentage pay rise.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “Any industrial action would not affect services running from the Gillmoss depot, which would continue to operate as normal.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of workers will begin industrial action later this month 09:22, 05 Sep 2025Updated 09:29, 05 Sep 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,1263,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-399588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-transport","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115150922922535678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399588","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=399588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399588\/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=399588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}