Arriva North West bus strike

[knutstransport]

RE: Potential Arriva North West bus strike

(23/07/2022 11:03)Mayneway Wrote:  Nope. I know of lads who went down to the picket on day one, signed up there and then and received the same strike pay as someone who’s been a member for 40 years. Unite don’t take subs from you during Industrial action so some cancelled membership the week after the strike ended and never paid in at all but got paid for 12 weeks of jollies.

This is why pictures of hundreds of workers on a picket are misleading. Yes the majority are there fighting for their rights but many are there because of pier pressure, or simply to have a break from work.

What other source of income do unions have?

Of course anyone can leave or join a union. I didn't say the striking members will pay, I said the union members will either pay more long term or suffer from an inferior service.

[motormayhem1]

RE: Potential Arriva North West bus strike

(23/07/2022 18:51)iMarkeh Wrote:  Merseyside is one of the best paid in terms of bus operations. Not many bus operators match the Arriva Merseyside. Elsewhere, granted the gap is bigger but they'd be hard pressed to find another operator offering better.

If the pay is that poor, why aren't all these drivers leaving to go to the really highly paid companies? We have a driver shortage, you can walk into another operator and start work that day.



DISCLAIMER:
This isn't me saying that I am against the whole strike. It is purely in reply to the comment made that drivers are paid next to nothing.

Drivers are leaving more than what's coming in due to leaving for jobs that either pay more or hours are not as unsociable.
10 people get offered an interview and yet only 1 or 2 turn up for them interviews and some that start seem to leave within the first 12 months due to stress of the job or unsociable hours.
a lot of people state 8% is a good offer and yeah it maybe for some but when the cost of living as risen to 10%+ then taking an 8% pay rise is still like a pay cut.
Stagecoach as listened to there staff eventually and given them 10%+ so why can't arriva offer the same as it's not a race to the bottom and every worker should be entitled to a livable pay rise that fits in with inflation.
The rich get richer while the workers get poorer and that's not how it should be.

[knutstransport]

RE: Potential Arriva North West bus strike

(24/07/2022 11:08)motormayhem1 Wrote:  10 people get offered an interview and yet only 1 or 2 turn up for them interviews and some that start seem to leave within the first 12 months due to stress of the job or unsociable hours.

The number of job seekers is currently low in comparison to applicants. Some people who are applying for everything they can do are getting 7+ interview offers per week, so rejecting/not turning up for the less attractive ones.

Quote:a lot of people state 8% is a good offer and yeah it maybe for some but when the cost of living as risen to 10%+ then taking an 8% pay rise is still like a pay cut.

The BBC were reporting 9.4% in the last week. The thing is pay rises are usually set annually but inflation goes up and down every month. Russia signing an agreement with the UN, combined with Bank of England action will hopefully see the rate of inflation fall. If Arriva stand still on 8% for 2 months it may well end up as an above inflation offer soon.

Quote:so why can't arriva offer the same as it's not a race to the bottom and every worker should be entitled to a livable pay rise that fits in with inflation.
The rich get richer while the workers get poorer and that's not how it should be.

If you use the term 'race to the bottom' to describe a pay rise then you lose most people. If a bus moves along at 20mph when other vehicles are moving along at 30mph, it's not racing in the wrong direction. It's making slow progress in the right direction. It's the same with any pay offer you aren't happy with. If it doesn't involve doing more work for the same amount or taking a pay cut, you're going upwards not downwards. You just might be overtaken by others because you're not moving forward as quickly as you like but it doesn't mean you're in reverse gear.

The Living Wage Foundation says the minimum wage required to live on is now £9.90 an hour outside of London. Even if Arriva pay the legal minimum wage, an 8% pay rise would take you above £9.90.

It's actually the lowest paid who have seen the biggest pay rises in the last couple of years. The minimum wage has jumped significantly, while many higher paid people have seen their pay frozen due to COVID stretching budgets. The irony is paying people involved in the food production chain more, has helped increase the price of food on the supermarket shelves.

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Arriva North West bus strike

(23/07/2022 22:16)teenagewasteland Wrote:  It's already been down-sized like crazy without any need for strike action. When Arriva North West took over MTL in February 2000, they then had a combined fleet-strength of about 1500 vehicles. Today, the fleet is about half that total.

An example of an area I can think of is Huyton.

5 Liverpool to St Helens/Rainhill (Withdrawn)
6 Liverpool to Huyton (Withdrawn)
6 (H5) Liverpool to Warrington (Merged with 7 - combined frequency reduction)
10B Liverpool to Huyton (Weekend frequency reduction)
11 Liverpool to Stockbridge/Huyton/Prescot (Withdrawn)
21 Stockbridge to Huyton/Prescot (Withdrawn)
39 (49) St Helens to Alder Hey (Withdrawn)
61 Liverpool to Runcorn (Frequency reduction and part funded by Merseytravel to service Liverpool)
90 St Helens to Kirkby (Withdrawn)
212 Liverpool to Huyton via Stockbridge (Withdrawn)

8/9 replaced the 274/275 largely but this cut Huyton from Tuebrook/West Derby whilst increasing Old Swan routed services.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West bus strike
I know at macclesfield & winsford depots a few drivers have walked out to join coach companies such as roy mccarthy & holmeswood.

Not sure about holmeswood but do know that mccarthy pay £12.50 an hour. Yes it's fewer hours potentially due to mainly being school & college contracts plus normal coach work but it's still better.

Few drivers I know at macclesfield have said other people left as they feel coach companies treat staff a load better & they're feeling more valued. So I think we're gonna see a load more walking out.

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West bus strike

(25/07/2022 19:42)33109 Wrote:  I know at macclesfield & winsford depots a few drivers have walked out to join coach companies such as roy mccarthy & holmeswood.

As Holmeswood are Northwich & Congleton based, presumably it will be closer to home for some drivers and further for others.

Of course D&G have bus work based in Northwich and there's plenty of choice of operators in the Stockport area.

I recently observed on a D&G 38 journey that both the driver of the bus heading to Crewe and the bus heading to Macc were from Stoke (despite it being a Crewe depot route), with one of the Hollinshead drivers on the Congleton locals being the brother of one of the D&G drivers.

[NathanR]

RE: Arriva North West bus strike
Look's like progress was made during the most recent negotiations, Arriva have been able to table a new pay offer to GMB/Unite to ballot it's members on, with the possibility of services resuming on August 17th.

Hoping this leads to the end of the industrial action, as schools return in a couple of weeks time.

https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/...-july-2022

[313201]

RE: Arriva North West bus strike
I would like to point something out here and whether its right or not is irrelevant at the moment because this strike has gone on far too long and also bear this in mind before anybody criticises me, the decision of whether the previous pay deal was accepted or not was not made by the drivers.

The drivers didn't even get a say on whether they would accept the offer, the damned unions made the decision for the drivers.

This information has been circulating around the wirral after a few staff members ( names not known ) made it clear to members of the public that the unions were not getting feedback from the drivers.

I feel that the drivers SHOULD be given a chance to have their say even if the union bosses don't always agree otherwise what's the point in having drivers be part of a union if they're not allowed to speak up for themselves.

[EDB325]

RE: Arriva North West bus strike

(12/08/2022 16:53)313201 Wrote:  I would like to point something out here and whether its right or not is irrelevant at the moment because this strike has gone on far too long and also bear this in mind before anybody criticises me, the decision of whether the previous pay deal was accepted or not was not made by the drivers.

The drivers didn't even get a say on whether they would accept the offer, the damned unions made the decision for the drivers.

This information has been circulating around the wirral after a few staff members ( names not known ) made it clear to members of the public that the unions were not getting feedback from the drivers.

I feel that the drivers SHOULD be given a chance to have their say even if the union bosses don't always agree otherwise what's the point in having drivers be part of a union if they're not allowed to speak up for themselves.

SHOULD ? Surely that ought to be MUST ! The Unions are there to serve their members in a democratic manner, and to negotiate on their behalf, not to unilaterally make decisions without proper consultation !

[313201]

RE: Arriva North West bus strike
Fair enough, it was the 1st word that came to mind when I was typing my post