London bus drivers might strike in 2015 over pay dispute

Bus drivers in London may go on strike in 2015 over a pay dispute.

The drivers are demanding wages rise by £3 an hour, from £9.30 to £12.34.

Members of Unite, who represent 7,000 bus workers, supported walkouts with 85% of the vote in favour.

Wayne King, Unite’s London regional officer, said: “This overwhelming vote in favour of strike action across London’s buses should be a wake-up call to the capital’s bus operators who continue to defend pay inequality.

“Bus workers who keep our capital running 24 hours a day, seven days a week have had enough of the growing pay disparities and the growing resentment it breeds across the industry.

“Rather than one set of negotiations covering all of London’s bus drivers, we have 18. It is simply not fair to have drivers doing the same work, driving the same routes at the same time of day, but being paid different rates.

“London’s bus operators need to enter into meaningful talks aimed at ending pay inequality and establishing a collective forum that covers bus workers’ pay terms and conditions in London. Otherwise their continued refusal risks the disruption of a London-wide bus strike in the new year.”