(14 Sep 2021, 1:40 pm)Ambassador wrote It's the reality of the current situation and the public attitude, nobody wants to pay more than they do now.  

The Living Wage outside of London is currently £9.50 which GNE pay above. Average Pay in manual and entry level office jobs is around the £10 level in this region, slightly less in some retail environments. Very few people have had pay rises, those that do won't have had anything inflation busting. Doesn't mean it's right but its the reality. 

The public have already indirectly kept the industry and these jobs going through furlough and support grants on top of fares - there's absolutely no appetite to support more, so yes, unions should be more realistic. Allow the economy to recover now - reap the benefits following that.

There may well be pay grades above £9.50 but I'm only 9.04 per hour which is well under that....

Not sure what managers get paid though as it's never disclosed. Pay in the industry as a whole is bad not just GNE so maybe if one operator upped pay and conditions then they would attract more staff and probably staff from other companies and I would put my pension on other operators upping pay and conditions to try and win back drivers.