Leeds faces bus nightmare as First Bus drivers stage continuous strike

Bus services across the city will be severely disrupted from Sunday June 18 as drivers are set to begin a continuous strike over the refusal of First Bus to return the date on which new pay rises are enacted after it was changed during the pandemic.

During the industrial action, First Bus services will run on a reduced timetable with services operating between 07:00 until around 19:00 each day. Several will be cancelled entirely due to a lack of drivers.

The services connecting students in Hyde Park and Headingley to campus and the rest of Leeds are affected. 1b, 28, 19 and 19a will run no service. 56 and 1 will only run hourly and 6 and 8 will run every half hour.

The timetable for all other affected services in Leeds is available on the First Bus website.

Unite, which represents nearly 800 striking drivers, says the pay anniversary date, the date in which pay agreements come into force, was changed during the pandemic as First Bus faced a significant drop in revenue with people staying at home.

But according to the union, First Bus has refused to reverse the pay anniversary pay date from October back to April, which the union says has left drivers struggling as inflation squeezes the income of households.

In a statement, Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “When First West Yorkshire needed its drivers to dig deep for the company, they did.”

“Not only did they put their and their families’ health on the line by continuing to drive First buses, they also agreed to delay getting a pay rise.”

“First Group have taken advantage of this sacrifice to keep their drivers’ wages down as inflation has rocketed. Our members are absolutely right to strike at what is essentially a stab in the back by First West Yorkshire and they will receive Unite’s total support.”  

First Bus said they were “disappointed” by the decision.

Andrew Cullen, the Managing Director of First North & West Yorkshire, says the current agreement on pay was signed off by the union and is in place until October 2023.

“The management team at First North & West Yorkshire have been working hard to find solutions to help our valued drivers during these tough economic times and have made a series of substantial and unconditional offers to satisfy demands. These remain on the table and have yet to be put to our Leeds drivers by the UNITE representatives, therefore the union’s efforts should focus on this and not on industrial action while collective bargaining continues.”

“The First North & West Yorkshire team is ready and willing to meet and we encourage Unite to join us so we can finalise a settlement and help our drivers to manage the continuing pressure on the cost of living that everyone is facing as quickly as possible.”

Image: Josh Elgin