Ongoing strike action over pay by drivers with Go North East (GNE) who are members of Unite has continued into a second week after talks brokered by ACAS broke down on 6 November.
In an increasingly acrimonious dispute that saw drivers halt work on 28 October, GNE says that Unite representatives “staged a walkout” from the ACAS meeting “after four hours.” The union claims that it tabled various plans to solve the dispute, all of which were refused.
Comments from Unite appear to suggest that the two parties are close on their offer and counter-offer. It believes that the dispute could be resolved “for approximately £238,000.” General Secretary Sharon Graham says that such a sum is what parent Go-Ahead Group would “find down the back of a sofa,” noting that Go-Ahead is “awash with cash.”
GNE’s account of the aborted meeting differs. It claims that “Unite demanded pay rises every six months in return for calling off [its] strike, before refusing to continue talks.” GNE says that it sought dialogue on proposals, “but negotiations ended… when Unite representatives walked out.”
Business Director Ben Maxfield says that Unite is seeking a rise backdated to July; a further uplift in July 2024; and an intermediate increase in January 2024 that was first introduced at the ACAS meeting on 6 November.
GNE previously offered a 10.3% increment, which it says would take drivers’ hourly rate to £14.15. Mr Maxfield adds that they received a 10% uplift in July 2022, although Unite claims that when adjusted for inflation, drivers have not seen a real-terms increase “for over five years.”
In an aggressive attack, Mr Maxfield has accused the union of being “hell-bent on disruption rather than dialogue,” and that anger at the strike among both the public and GNE’s workforce is “mounting.” He adds: “All we get from the local Unite representatives is a series of moving goalposts, escalating demands, and a succession of U-turns.”
Ms Graham has told GNE that it “should be ashamed of its own stubbornness and how it is treating our members and the communities that built its transport empire.”
Such words follow an attack on GNE by Unite four days earlier. That highlighted Go-Ahead Group’s roots in Go-Ahead Northern, the forerunner to today’s Go North East. Unite says that Go-Ahead “has decided to let down [the] community and its workforce.”
The union previously drew a parallel between drivers at GNE and those with fellow Go-Ahead subsidiary Go North West (GNW) in Greater Manchester. The latter earn £105 more per 39-hour week, it says.
Mr Maxfield has countered by saying that such a difference reflects more flexible workplace agreements at GNW. On 6 November, he said that Unite has told GNE management that its members with the operator “would not want to swap their package of wages and conditions for that of Manchester, or anywhere else.”
Over 80 Go North East buses are in operation despite the strike, largely on home-to-school contracts and services to hospitals. They are being driven by office and managerial staff, and Unite members who have returned to work.
