Travel woes to continue as bus strike extends into second week

First Dorset drivers walked out this week in a row over pay and have now added a further four days of industrial action.

The strike, by members of union Unite, will continue on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday next week.

Unite regional officer Bob Lanning said: “We are faced with an intolerable situation where twice in the last ten days the management have said that they would come to the table with an improved offer – and on both occasions they have not budged.

“This dispute is being pockmarked by the management’s bad faith and broken promises.

“As a result, we are calling four more days of strike action next week as our members are very angry at the management’s duplicity.”

Mr Lanning added that Unite’s door is “always open” for talks to resolve the dispute.

Drivers for First Dorset earn £8.80 an hour in comparison to the £9.50 an hour earned by First drivers in Yeovil.

Marc Reddy, First Dorset managing director, said that the demands made by drivers were “simply not affordable”.

He added: “We have to balance what they want with what the business can afford and with prices the customers are willing to pay.

“To that end we’ve tabled a number of different offers over the past few months, all of which we consider to be fair and reasonable.

“It’s deeply unfortunate and frustrating that the union is taking this action, especially since our offers come on the back of pay increases in 2013 and 2014.”

Mr Reddy added that First Dorset will continue to operate replacement services during the strike.

He said: “We have been working hard to minimise the impact of the industrial action to date, and can report that so far this week we’ve been able to operate 87 per cent of the services that normally run, and we’d hope to be able to do the same next week, if need be.”

“The dispute is clearly disruptive though, and having an impact on people who simply want to use the bus as normal, whether that’s going to school, work or leisure destinations.”