(02 Nov 2023, 12:08 am)DUnber43 Its the entirety of Durham normally. 

If only there was some sort of way to move people in large groups in big vehicles...

(19 Nov 2023, 9:01 am)DeltaMan Spotted this on Twitter. No wonder the industry is short of drivers.

https://twitter.com/thebonnylad/status/1724567633117270470?t=7MKSPSYSXd42nzSR3MrWlQ&s=19

(19 Nov 2023, 9:39 am)Dan Yet more ridiculous fake news posted on social media to suit an agenda during the current dispute.

This duty is specific to the agency driver working on that contract. The agency drivers will work much longer shifts than one of the company’s own colleagues, to any conditions which are legal. They do this to maximise the amount of money they get paid on these contracts, and know what they are signing up for before they agree to work at any company for the agency.

This type of duty would not and could not be imposed on one of the company’s own colleagues. It does not conform to the Union agreements of any depot. Even if there were no Union agreements forbidding this, it would not rota well on a 39-hour week (as opposed to the agency drivers’ guaranteed 55-hour week), so would never be planned like this.


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(19 Nov 2023, 9:53 am)DeltaMan I wouldn't be surprised then if that sort of duty is used as a "this is what they want to do is" thing. Without the context it looks very bad.

(19 Nov 2023, 10:56 am)Dan A few days ago, Ambassador mentioned that employee forums are conducted at his place of work, which allows more constructive discussion to take place with management of the organisation he works at. The bus industry is so heavily unionised that this would be difficult to achieve at Go North East, especially in the current climate, but I dare say would have resulted in more meaningful and productive discussions to improve drivers’ work/life balance than what we have witnessed unfold over the last few months.

(19 Nov 2023, 10:56 am)Dan This is exactly the type of narrative being employed here, and it’s far from what the company is trying to achieve.

Under Martijn Gilbert’s running of the company, an independent rota review was undertaken in which drivers gave feedback on how they would like these to be adjusted to allow a better work/life balance.

The results were such that no changes could be made that would suit everyone, but it proved that some of the terms and conditions at Go North East actually prevented better duties and rotas being designed.

Martijn then left the business - as did most others involved in the rota review, with an almost entirely new commercial team now in place at Go North East and several new General Managers - and no progress was made on implementing these improvements.

Behind the scenes, sheet reps at some depots have since seen what movement on some existing terms and conditions can have upon their duties and rotas and have openly admitted that they are some of the best rotas they have ever seen, but because they do not conform to existing agreements, would not be accepted. Lo and behold, a proposal arose to introduce some changes to terms and conditions…

Perhaps wrongly linked to pay talks, this proposal was then taken off the table and agreed with Unite that discussions could be held individually with each depot to demonstrate once more the improvements which can be made by switching on/off and moving certain conditions which presently hinder the compilation of better duties and rotas, being agreed by Unite prior to any changes being introduced meaning that the pay deal is ‘no strings attached’ and completely separate to any discussion around terms and conditions. The media spin on this is that this was then the company targeting drivers on a depot-by-depot basis so that they did not have as big a voice.

The media spin is that Go North East is trying to force drivers to work long shifts with 5.5 hour driving portions. By and large, this is impossible to achieve due to Go North East’s long-distance services and complex interworking patterns meaning that a lot of services cycle in 4-4.5 hours (so it would be impossible to do another trip) - but logic is being taken out of arguments in the media.

A few days ago, Ambassador mentioned that employee forums are conducted at his place of work, which allows more constructive discussion to take place with management of the organisation he works at. The bus industry is so heavily unionised that this would be difficult to achieve at Go North East, especially in the current climate, but I dare say would have resulted in more meaningful and productive discussions to improve drivers’ work/life balance than what we have witnessed unfold over the last few months.

Alas, the dispute continues, drivers continue not to reap the rewards of a better work/life balance, and people’s lives continue to be disrupted…


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(19 Nov 2023, 11:36 am)Adrian You'd have the same perceived issue, in my opinion.

Speaking as an outsider, the root of the issue in the bus industry all seems to all come back to the 'them and us' culture that exists between drivers and managers. This, combined with a disciplinary culture, allows distrust to thrive.

You could have whatever forum you wanted, but unless you're prepared to tackle the root of the problem, your employees will never move from a position where they think you're at it/up to something.



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(20 Nov 2023, 8:49 am)morritt89 I believe when I was at Deptford that management there did try and start colleague forums to meet with managers and discuss issues, improvements and other suggestions. This was a good few year ago (possibly before Covid).

There are employee surveys where management 'act' on results. We got pretty graphs and charts pinned on the walls. Not too much on the action front.

The nothing gets done about X Y Z so we don't bother and just get on with it approach from drivers happened as any suggestions seemed to fall on deaf ears. However depot management blamed higher up management and after my experiences, this may be the case. Communication is key and seems to be missing (from the top down). I have to say, under MG Communication was alot better.

(20 Nov 2023, 12:57 pm)Ambassador I used to like MGs Covid updates, we actually used one as an example of how a similar work social platform could work with interaction (viva engage) in a board presentation 

It’s quite frustrating when change doesn’t happen or at least reasons behind it not explained. It’s such a low cost win

(04 Dec 2023, 8:50 am)Thomas12 Go North East didn’t even bother to run the 41/41A this morning, terrible service.

(04 Dec 2023, 9:27 am)Storx I know all the caveats of Bustimes etc but if it's tracking correctly then GNE is one hot mess right now. Cancellations are absolutely ripe across the whole company. Good thing they got an award for good driver retention though, must be a bad bug going around.

It's no wonder the cancellation list isn't being done right now as it would take hours to update.

(04 Dec 2023, 12:58 pm)Aaron21 Currently sat at North Shields waiting on the 1 between Howdon and Whitley Bay there is no 1. The 1 is at Howdon and is the only bus that will be in Whitley Bay in 30 to 40 minutes