(06 Jul 2021, 8:34 am)Ambassador wrote I imagine it'll be union led to try to shape public opinion which very rarely works but Union thinking is somewhat archaic and simplistic. 

2% is a really good offer in a period when it's hard to justify a pay rise when your business has been essentially state funded for the best part of a year, a reality check is needed (even if the Go Ahead share price is fairly healthy)

There's lots of private (and public) sector employees who have faced long periods of furlough at reduced pay and in a lot of cases redundancy and would murder their own granny for a 2% raise.

The article seems to suggest that 2% would have been accepted for 2021, but there's nothing to cover the zero 'pay award' for 2020. Bus drivers, like other frontline workers, have kept the country moving throughout a pandemic. Not to mention all the flexibility associated with 'helping out' around the region. It'll be interesting to see what the ballot result is, and thus the strength of feeling.

I don't buy the race to the bottom argument. The public sector has had over a decade of pay restraint now, with successive Governments repeatedly finding further reasons to continue with it. Looks like the NHS staff are getting one medal to share, in addition to an insulting 1% offer.