Dont't know if it was true, but after the strike in the 90's, the story was that by setting up Wear Buses, Vfm, Go Gateshead etc - then unions wouldn't be able to have another walk out.

Some of the vehicles OK were using during that strike were ancient - at the time I hadn't seen anything like them before. I remember an old single decker appearing that was still knocking about into the mid-90's on scholar work in Washington!

With regard to this strike, I have been saying for a long time, that GNE are clearly only looking out for their shareholders. Passengers aren't at the top of their priorities and their staff obviously feel like they are being ignored too.
Services have been axed, fares have been increased beyond inflation, wages haven't...
4.5% over two years on an £18k salary (to take it upto 19k) is nothing to a multimillion pound organisation like Go-ahead who apparently aim to increase group wide profits by 200%!
Agreeing/disagreeing whether strike action is correct, is another thing, but the drivers obviously feel this is their only way.