Poor support for a drivers strike at Trentbarton, along with contingency measures, meant that it was able to run a full service on all 11 of the affected Nottingham routes on Monday (10 September) – the first of four consecutive Monday strikes called by Unite.
Trentbarton used its Twitter feed to update passengers every half-hour from when services started.
Ahead of the strike, Trentbarton MD Jeff Counsell hit out at Unite, which had described the firm as providing “poverty pay”.
In a strongly-worded statement, he refuted the accusation adding: “Trentbarton has a track record of improving pay for its teams year on year. For the past 11 years in total, Barton Buses Ltd drivers have received pay rises better than the rate of inflation.”
He went on: “I’m shocked Unite has described our competitive wages as ‘poverty pay’.
“The majority of the Barton Buses team are on an hourly wage of £11.51 per hour with a guarantee of 39 hours per week.
“Our starting hourly wage is £9.34, with rises during the first two or three years of employment. All rates are significantly ahead of the National Living Wage (£7.83) and the ‘Real Living Wage’ (£8.75).
“Our teams also have the opportunity to volunteer for overtime, and those driving late night services earn £14.99 per hour.
“It’s disappointing that we find ourselves facing industrial action by some members of our team, especially given that we have a track record of improving pay above the level of inflation over the past 11 years.
“At a time when our business, like so many others, is facing tough trading conditions and increased costs, we believe our offer to increase pay by 2.5% to be a very good one and one which will be sustainable in the future.
“We’re proud to be a locally owned independent company.
“Our operating profits are used to invest in our fleet to help sustain a modern, attractive and desirable transport network. It’s one of the reasons that our customer satisfaction scores are amongst the highest in the UK.
“We hope our drivers who are members of Unite will recognise that industrial action will not help anybody – not them or their fellow drivers, not our customers and not the future sustainability of their employer.
“Trentbarton aims to be transparent during pay reviews to build a trusting partnership. Whilst the union has been considering the pay review, Trentbarton has implemented the 2.5% increase which has been paid since June and backdated to March 2018.
“I offer a sincere apology to those who will be affected by the industrial action. I want to let our customers know that we’ll be doing everything we can to minimise disruption, and we’ll be working hard to keep everyone moving.”
