Bus strike in Wales

Hundreds of bus workers at First Cymru in South Wales are escalating their strike action in a dispute over pay.

Workers are angry at the rates of pay offered and at refusal by First Cymru to agree back pay. Strikes will now take place from 20 November continuously until 21 January.

Unreasonable

Drivers, members of Unite the Union, are escalating their strike action in the face of the employer acting in an unreasonable manner. As well as withholding agreed back pay, First had offered £50 to workers to break their own picket line.

The dispute covers workers operating from depots in Swansea, Port Talbot, Bridgend, Carmarthen, Haverford West and Ammanford. Their claim is for a rate of pay that takes the current cost of living and inflation into account.

Low wages

First Cymru is not a good payer; wages are less than other bus operators in Wales. It may become the only major operator still making new drivers having to wait a year to qualify for the standard rate of pay. And the present £13.40 hourly rate compares poorly to the Real Living Wage, which rises to £13.45 next April.

Unite regional officer Alan McCarthy said, “The pressures of the role are clear. Driving a bus is a highly skilled job.” Unite general secretary Sharon Graham added, “First Cymru is trying to take industrial relations back to the dark ages”.

The company is part of the First Group transport network. In the last financial year First Group made over £200 million profit and paid its chief executive over £3 million.

Update

• Unite members have suspended action at First Cymru pending the result of a ballot on a revised offer, results due 28 November.