Go North East: Two weeks of bus strikes to go ahead in October

Bus passengers are being advised to make alternative travel arrangements, with industrial action set to go ahead.

Last-minute pay talks between Go North East and Unite union ended "without resolution", meaning bus services will be disrupted from 30 September-6 October and again, from 14-20 October.

Go North East said the "vast majority" of contract school services will run, but other passenger services would not.

Unite said the strike was its "only option" and called it "regrettable".

Dave Telford, from Unite, said: "We are looking to close the gap on other Go Ahead bus companies", adding "Go North East drivers are the poorest paid in the region."

Mr Telford said driver members were paid £12.83 an hour, while other drivers in the Go Ahead group were paid a minimum of £15 an hour.

He said without members taking industrial action "we won't get a decent deal".

Ben Maxfield, Go North East business director, said the company had made a pay offer of 9.5% but said the union had increased its request to 13% during talks earlier this week.

"We could not have tried harder to solve this dispute," said Mr Maxfield.

"We've put more money on the table and listened to drivers who have asked us to slow down moves to bring their working practices into line with competitors."

"It now means, from this weekend, thousands of passengers will be disrupted."

The company, which runs 121 school buses, expects to cover the "vast majority" of those services, but said the general public, and pupils catching normal service buses, should make alternative arrangements.

A Gateshead bus driver told the BBC: "They aren't running anything except school buses because they are contracted, so they get fined for not operating [them]."

Go North East workers - including office staff - at depots in Consett, Gateshead, Hexham, Percy Main, Sunderland and Washington voted to take strike action earlier this month. Proposals to standardise some conditions across depots and lock in a two-year deal were rejected, with 98% of those taking part in the ballot opting for strike action.

Mr Maxwell said: "I would like to offer my deepest apologies to people across the region who will be affected by Unite's strike."

He said work would continue "towards the quickest solution possible".

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