Go North East vote to strike 'indefinitely' and reject offer

Members of the Unite union have voted against accepting a proposed 10.3% pay rise, which it called “insulting”.

It means that a continuous walkout by drivers, engineers, maintenance workers and depot crews is set to happen as planned, starting tomorrow [Saturday, October 28].

There have been warnings that the mass industrial action will cause “untold damage” for passengers who rely on Go North East buses and who have already endured two week-long strikes this month.

Go North East business director Ben Maxfield said the operator was “baffled” by the overwhelming ‘no’ vote.

On Wednesday this week, Go North East announced that it had tabled a 10.3% pay rise offer that would see drivers paid £14.15 an hour, alongside a guaranteed above-inflation pay increase next year too.

While the operator said the deal would make its drivers the best-remunerated in the region, Unite has complained that the average wage for a Go North West driver is £15.53 – a rate that the company’s latest offer failed to match.

In a ballot of Unite members working at the bus operator, 81% rejected the offer on a turnout of 93%.

The union claimed its members were “struggling to meet even a basic standard of living” and faced “nightmarish stress at work”.

Unite regional officer Mark Sanderson said: “We have repeatedly asked Go North East for a fair pay increase and again and again dragged their feet and refused to make a decent pay offer. We have drivers pushed to the brink of tiredness, working all hours God sends and skipping meals to make ends meet – yet their employer shows nothing but callous disregard for their wellbeing.

 “Go North East have massively misread the strength of feeling from their workers on this issue and Unite will be backing them the whole way.”

Unite said that almost a fifth of its members had been forced to skip meals or were unable to pay their rent or mortgage, while some had resorted to using foodbanks.

The union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, accused Go North East of “betraying” its staff and said that bosses were responsible for the huge disruption that the strike will cause.

She added: “This stubbornness, refusing to pay a decent wage to their workers, is what’s caused this dispute and only Go North East can end it by improving their offer. Unite will be backing our members to the hilt in that fight.”

The latest round of industrial action will result in all Go North East services, aside from contracted school routes, being cancelled for an indefinite period.

Under the law, workers taking industrial action have legal protection for 12 weeks – after which they can be dismissed. As Unite members at Go North East began their first strike week on September 30, that 12-week period would end on December 22.

Mr Maxfield claimed that Go North East had met “each and every one” of the union’s demands and that it was “hard to understand” why the strike was proceeding.

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He said the strike was “entirely of the union’s own making”, adding: “Immediately after learning of the ballot outcome, we appealed to the union to reconsider and suspend the strike. Unfortunately, this was met with a flat refusal”.

Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon, who chairs the North East Joint Transport Committee, has been among those calling for a resolution to what has been a bitter pay dispute.

He warned that another crippling strike “would cause untold damage to local communities and create havoc for peoples’ daily lives”.