First Manchester statement on rejection of pay offer in Unite ballot of Oldham drivers

First Manchester has announced that a Unite ballot on Thursday 29 June has rejected its latest pay offer to Oldham drivers and industrial action will begin from Monday 3 July.

Ian Humphreys, Managing Director of First Manchester, said:

“We are very disappointed and dismayed at the decision to commence strike action at our Oldham depot.

“The generous pay offer we made to the union of a 15.2 per cent per cent increase between now and October is well above inflation and would have helped our drivers to manage the cost of living as quickly as possible.

“Industrial action will be damaging to everyone and cause severe disruption to the daily lives of our customers who rely on the bus to get to work, education and for appointments.”

Services not affected and ticket refunds

First Manchester has plans in place to run all the school services it manages from Monday 3 July. These are: 701, 705, 774, 775, 784, 788, 793, 794, 795, 812, 820, 821, 823, 825, 829, 830, 831, 835, 836, 837, 838, 841, 851, 861, 868, 871, 875, 879, 884, 887, 890, 891, 893, 894, S350, S84

The industrial action does not affect the Vantage V1 and V2 services that First Manchester operates from Bolton along the guided busway through Leigh and Atherton to Manchester.

The 184 service between Oldham-Huddersfield will also run as normal as this is operated by First West Yorkshire from its Huddersfield depot.

Ian Humphreys added: “We will be unable to operate any other bus services from Monday and would like to apologise in advance and encourage customers to make alternative travel arrangements.

“We urge Unite to return to negotiations so we can finalise a settlement and prevent a prolonged dispute.”

Tickets purchased on a strike day will not be refunded and customers are advised to check if a service is operating. Customers with pre-bought tickets for strike dates will be given a refund or replacement tickets to use for future travel.

Further information for customers will be published on the First Manchester website later today.

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