UNITE the Union
On rolling one-day strikes
over derisory pay!
Profit-hungry multinational
Stagecoach is raking in millions. Yet it’s refusing to pay our bus drivers in
Barnsley and Rawmarsh a decent wage!
What
do we want?
We are calling for £9.50p per
hour – which is still less than Arriva drivers in Wakefield or FirstGroup
drivers in Sheffield get now. Our pay anniversary date April 2011 came and went
with no pay rise on our £8.57p per hour top rate. At the end of November the
Company imposed an 18p rise - saying that’s all we are going to get! Why should
Stagecoach get away with the lowest pay and conditions in Yorkshire?
Enough is enough
Barnsley drivers have had enough.
The Company are not only trying to get away with lousy pay and conditions, they
are trying to take time off us and change agreements. We are treated unfairly
in disciplines and drivers are bullied when they go off sick. We have a hard
job to do with a lot of responsibility and difficult shift work. We deserve to
be treated better and get a decent pay rise for once!
Stagecoach is using nasty tactics in this dispute
When we are on strike (we had the
7th one day strike on 4th January – the next is on 16th
January) Stagecoach is paying huge amounts to bring in strike breakers from
around the county. Most of these are managers and supervisors from other
Stagecoach depots. Their travel is paid for, they are put up in expensive
hotels and they receive bonuses and allowances of over £150 per day on top of
their salary. It costs them more than paying our pay rise!
When we are back at work
Stagecoach will not allow any driver who was striking to do any overtime or
work their days off. This is spiteful tactics to try and break us. The result
is loads of lost mileage, which means you the passengers don’t get your bus
service even when we are back at work. It’s a different story for the handful
of drivers who have not joined the strike. They can have all the overtime they
want!
Stagecoach
can’t pay?
Oh yes they can! In 2010-11
Stagecoach profits were up 52% and final dividend to shareholders was up 9.2%.
Chief Executive Brian Souter is worth £400m and owns a castle and a herd of
prime cattle in Scotland! We think it’s costing Stagecoach up to 5 times more
for each strike breaker they bring in than it costs to employ a regular bus
driver. Yet with over 100 managers and supervisors drafted in from as far away
as Perth, they can barley get out 60% of the service on strike days.
How
long can they keep this up?
Not as long as us! Stagecoach
tactics have made our drivers even more determined. Our strike is as solid now
as the day we started and we’ve won new drivers into the Union since the strike
began. We’ve been encouraged by the support we’ve had from you the passengers
and the public of Barnsley. This is a mining town and you know whose side you’re
on! We thank you for your support, which is very important to us.
Please
send messages of support
Please send messages of support
to us via UNITE Full Time Officer John Evans at john.evans@unitetheunion.org
Please come and show your support on the picket line – we are always pleased to
see members of the public, other trade unionists etc.
We need financial support to help
those drivers who are experiencing hardship. Please send cheques addressed to “UNITE
The Union” c/o John Evans, UNITE Regional Industrial Organiser, UNITE The
Union, Sovereign Court, 300 Barrow Road, Sheffield S9 1JQ
With your help and support
we know we can win a just settlement
-
and get Barnsley’s
bus service back on the road again with the drivers you know and trust!
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