BUS drivers at London United will stage extra days of strike motion, the Unite union mentioned at this time, after talks didn’t ship an settlement on pay and situations.
Drivers primarily based at seven garages in west and south-west London operated by the subsidiary of French-owned transport transnational RATP will stroll out on April 23 and 26 and May 7.
The long-running dispute centres on the agency’s failure to settle Unite’s 2019 and 2020 pay claims, which the union says boils all the way down to an try by RATP to spice up income at its employees’ expense — regardless of a worldwide turnover in extra of €5 billion (£4.3bn).
Unite regional officer Michelle Braveboy warned that members would proceed to take strike motion “till RATP makes a good and cheap pay supply.”
She mentioned: “Our members have labored all through the pandemic, risking their well being and that of their households, and albeit the supply put ahead by RATP is insulting.
“RATP seems to have loads of cash to pay its company fats cats and spend money on refurbishing its places of work, however on the subject of paying the bus drivers who’re important to its operation, it claims the cabinet is naked.
“Bus drivers perceive that, by occurring strike, [they will cause] passengers in London [to] face substantial disruption to their journeys. however they really feel that they’ve been left with no choice as a direct results of the corporate’s failure to make a good supply.
“Unite has all the time made it clear that the union is accessible for talks at any time, and if RATP is ready to return ahead with a suggestion that our members discover acceptable, then strikes planned for the approaching weeks could be averted.”
RATP was invited to remark.