Hackney bus drivers strike over pay

A 24-hour strike on Friday (27 November) suspended bus routes and disrupted services as members of Unite working for transport company CT Plus picketed Ash Grove Bus Depot for better pay and conditions.

The 153, which runs from Liverpool Street to Finsbury Park, and the 388 from Hackney Wick to Embankment were suspended from 4am, with the 394 and W13 running reduced services. Transport to the Olympic Park was not affected.

The drivers, engineers and administration staff were protesting a 2.25 per cent pay offer. Unite senior regional organiser Peter Kavanagh said wages at CT Plus put workers “at the bottom of the pay league” and that other companies paid up to £5,000 per year more.

“At first glance, 2.25 percent in today’s economy may not seem a bad deal but it looks very different to our members who are on low wages to begin with and are fed up struggling to get by,” Kavanagh said. “They also get no overtime pay and no compensation for working rest days or unsocial hours.”

Kavanagh told the Hackney Citizen that the union has not ruled out further industrial action. Unite wrote to CT Plus on Monday. “We’ve made it very clear we’re very happy to open negotiations again – it’s our preferred route to resolve the dispute,” he said.

Unite will be left with “no alternative but to call further action” if assurances that CT Plus is prepared to improve its offer are not given, he added.

“CT Plus regrets the strike action organised by Unite last week,” a spokesperson said.  “We are sure that our customers were as disappointed as we were with this action. We think that [a pay increase of 2.25 per cent] is a very generous offer particularly when compared to the pay awards that most Londoners have been receiving in the current economic climate.

“Drivers at the Olympic Park have indicated to us that they would like to accept the 2.25 per cent pay increase, which we will implement immediately, backdated to April when the offer was first made.

“We are entirely happy to re-open talks with Unite, but only if they can come to the table without the threat of further strikes and the misery they cause to the travelling public.”