London bus workers to take strike action in pay dispute

Over 1,600 London bus drivers are set to take strike action later this month after their employer failed to make a reasonable pay offer.

The strike action is a result of the company only offering a pay increase of 3.6 per cent in 2022 and 4.2 per cent next year. With the true inflation rate (RPI) currently standing at 11.8 per cent, this is, in effect, a real terms pay cut.

The initial strike action will take place on Friday 19 August and Saturday 20 August. The first day of industrial action coincides with strikes planned for the London Underground and Overground.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The workers’ parent company RATP is fabulously wealthy and it can fully afford to pay our members a decent wage increase.

“Unite’s members play a crucial role in keeping London moving and they are not going to accept seeing their pay constantly eroded.

“Unite does what it says on the trade union tin and always defends the jobs, pay and conditions of its members. Our members at London United will receive the union’s complete support until this dispute is resolved and a fair pay offer secured.”

The workers are employed by London United, a subsidiary of the French owned company RATP which is extremely lucrative and had a turnover of £4.8 million in 2021 recording a profit of £174 million in 2021.

The strike action will affect workers based at the following London United bus depots: Fulwell, Hounslow, Hounslow Heath, Park Royal, Shepherd’s Bush, Stamford Brook, and Tolworth.

Unite regional officer Michelle Braveboy said: “Strike action will cause considerable disruption to passengers across London. This dispute is of the company’s own making, it can make a fair pay offer to its workers but has chosen not to, so it now faces the prospects of a highly disruptive strike action.”