(07 Nov 2023, 10:00 pm)Storx wrote I don't know mind, Stagecoach South Shields is a dodgy depot which is paid less than everywhere else as Newcastle has always been paid more and Stockton and Sunderland have both striked to narrow the gap. Not 100% sure if it's changed, but I don't believe it has. Latest applications still have it 50p than the other depots pretty much though.

It was just hypothetical, someone suggested taking on the GNE 20, so if the boot flew the opposite way and for whatever reason Stagecoach ended on strike, then I'm sure someone wouldn't mind doing the opposite as they done it to be sort of spat.

There's also the big problem that Arriva Northumbria is paid substantially more than Arriva Durham for doing the exact same job aswell.

I think the difference being if SNE or ANE did go on strike, it would likely be professionally handled by grown ups and resolved in a reasonable amount of time.  Have either of those operators or their predecessors caused an indefinite strike like the clowns at GNE are presiding over and arguably perpetuating with their inflammatory messaging?  I know there have been strikes of course but I can't recall anything on this scale with any of the operators, since probably the Northern strikes in the late 80s and even then don't think they dragged on like this.

GNE are leaving their network wide open for anyone to have a pretty low risk swipe at currently (and customer loyalty likely gained faster than would otherwise ever likely be feasible, helped of course by the current toxicity of the GNE "brand").  The fact no one is stepping in to 'compete' when the monopoliser is down shows the extent to which deregulation has utterly failed.