Strikers to take protest to Awards and Museum

Trade union Unite members from Go North East plan to protest at the UK Bus Awards in London tomorrow.

The 1,300 Unite members are looking for Go North East to close the gap between what they pay drivers and engineers in the North East and those in the North West doing the same job for the same company earning over £5,000 a year more. The operator has put forward fresh proposals to the staff, who are striking over a dispute about pay and conditions.

As well as the awards at the Troxy on Commercial Road in London (E1 0HX), the workers will also be protesting at the Govia offices in London tomorrow, as well as at the London Transport Museum (LTM) and parent company Go-Ahead HQ on Wednesday (29 November). A panel event at the LTM discussing the future of public transport is due to take place during the protest. Louis Rambaud, Group Strategy and Transformation Director of the Go-Ahead Group, is sitting on the panel.

“Unite’s new leverage campaign is going to bring the protests and the dispute to the doorstep of Go Ahead, their directors, their suppliers, their customers and the politicians and communities in which they operate” – Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham

Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Go North East have had every chance to resolve this dispute and could do so with the stroke of a pen and just a tiny percentage of their annual profits. Yet they continue to pay poverty wages to workers in the North East, treating them as cheap labour, while pay inflation-busting six-figure salaries to their Chief Executive.

“Unite’s new leverage campaign is going to bring the protests and the dispute to the doorstep of Go Ahead, their directors, their suppliers, their customers and the politicians and communities in which they operate.”

“We are urging Unite to recommend our latest deal to its members” – Go North East spokesperson

A Go North East spokesperson today said: “We are deeply concerned about the impact Unite’s strike is having on the people of the north east. Talks are taking place today in an effort to resolve the strike, at which Go North East has put forward fresh proposals.

“We are urging Unite to recommend our latest deal to its members, so we can settle the dispute and get the region’s buses back out on the road.”