Dates announced for strike

Monday 11th Aug
Tuesday 12th Aug
Monday 18th Aug
Thurs 21st Aug

Drivers at Slatyford and Walkergate

Engineers and Cleaners at Newcastle, Shields and Sunderland

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c17n0gvrlrpo

Not been too militant with those dates mind.

No football or major event clases, kids still off school.

(29 Jul 2025, 2:29 pm)Ambassador wrote Not been too militant with those dates mind.

No football or major event clases, kids still off school.

Maybe not but still means people struggling to get to work, appointments, no day out anyway for anyone who don’t have a car.  

Come September if it’s not sorted then it will hit hard.

(29 Jul 2025, 8:16 pm)col87 wrote Maybe not but still means people struggling to get to work, appointments, no day out anyway for anyone who don’t have a car.  

Come September if it’s not sorted then it will hit hard.

Isn't that the idea of industrial action..

(30 Jul 2025, 1:46 am)Retro Nero wrote Isn't that the idea of industrial action..

Yep... I understand people being frustrated when they can't travel because of it, but the frustration should be directed at the management of the business. 

Nobody wants to strike. It's a last resort when negotiations are exhausted.

If there is a strike GNE would be better to put deckers on the 684/74/355/354/352/301 & Q3. Otherwise it's going to be very snug on those buses... This should be easier without Scholars if during holidays

The X39 may finally regain its traffic back from the 22X - ironically lost during GNE's strike/general incompetence period

(30 Jul 2025, 9:20 am)Adrian wrote Yep... I understand people being frustrated when they can't travel because of it, but the frustration should be directed at the management of the business. 

Nobody wants to strike. It's a last resort when negotiations are exhausted.

I think this is why the unions have been sensible with the dates they've chosen here. The ones where they threaten to strike when big events are on don't do the unions or the staff any favours. Hitting general work days people tend to be more understanding.

(30 Jul 2025, 2:12 pm)Ambassador wrote The X39 may finally regain its traffic back from the 22X - ironically lost during GNE's strike/general incompetence period

Are we not still living through that?

That GNE strike was awful back in ,i cant even remember whether if it was 2022 or 2023 but i remember people after school relying on the q3 but couldn’t so either walked back to great park or stayed at grandparents houses.And getting to metrocentre from town was chaos.We should just hope we never ever get a strike like GNEs again

(30 Jul 2025, 6:40 pm)Shrek wrote I think this is why the unions have been sensible with the dates they've chosen here. The ones where they threaten to strike when big events are on don't do the unions or the staff any favours. Hitting general work days people tend to be more understanding.

Disagree here mind. Strikes aren't there for the public to understand. If you want impact then you hit the worst days, ie when big events on. 

Whether the public like you or not is completely irrelevant, who cares. They have a job to drive a bus and the safety of passengers while on the vehicle, beyond that they don't care whether you like them or not. It's a job which no doubt most can't stand a chunk of their customers or their management either.

Kind of related to this subject, but not worth a whole new thread is that Arriva Durham County drivers accepted their new pay offer by ballot today, along with engineering staff. So there is zero risk of IA at Arriva again this year, as Northumbria was settled earlier in 2025.

The offer was close to inflation I believe, with drivers rate pushed to just over £15 per hour, still slightly lower than Northumbria but narrowing again this time.

(31 Jul 2025, 5:54 pm)Superman wrote Kind of related to this subject, but not worth a whole new thread is that Arriva Durham County drivers accepted their new pay offer by ballot today, along with engineering staff. So there is zero risk of IA at Arriva again this year, as Northumbria was settled earlier in 2025.

The offer was close to inflation I believe, with drivers rate pushed to just over £15 per hour, still slightly lower than Northumbria but narrowing again this time.

Comfortably accepted at that, from what I've been told.

Weekday rates of £12.60, £13.00 & £15.00 I believe, with 6 months shaved off probation as well.

(01 Aug 2025, 11:33 am)Chris 1 wrote Comfortably accepted at that, from what I've been told.

Weekday rates of £12.60, £13.00 & £15.00 I believe, with 6 months shaved off probation as well.

So 39p an hour above minimum wage for new starters, they must be inundated with applications.....

Rumour has it Busways strikes are postponed after another offer has landed from the company.

Transit settled theirs today with a 64% vote towards accepting

(05 Aug 2025, 9:14 pm)Teessider2014 wrote Rumour has it Busways strikes are postponed after another offer has landed from the company.

Transit settled theirs today with a 64% vote towards accepting

The first drivers' strike (11th and 12th) isn't going ahead, the new offer will be put to ballot on the 11th.

Believe engineering are still going on strike as of right now, though.

(05 Aug 2025, 9:20 pm)F114TML wrote The first drivers' strike (11th and 12th) isn't going ahead, the new offer will be put to ballot on the 11th.

Believe engineering are still going on strike as of right now, though.

That could be interesting!

Pay deal was rejected, as it stands strike action will take place 18th and 21st August unless another offer is brought to a vote.

(12 Aug 2025, 8:44 am)ReDemPTiion wrote Pay deal was rejected, as it stands strike action will take place 18th and 21st August unless another offer is brought to a vote.

Interesting that the reaction I've seen on my social media and speaking with people I work with isn't very supportive of the drivers this time. I think 5% for most seems fair as it's higher than the majority will get.

(13 Aug 2025, 8:32 pm)Shrek wrote Interesting that the reaction I've seen on my social media and speaking with people I work with isn't very supportive of the drivers this time. I think 5% for most seems fair as it's higher than the majority will get.

They were only going to get the full 5% from January, until then it was around 3%

But of course Stagecoach are spinning it to look like it was a straight 5%.

(13 Aug 2025, 8:37 pm)F114TML wrote They were only going to get the full 5% from January, until then it was around 3%

But of course Stagecoach are spinning it to look like it was a straight 5%.

The unions have failed to get that fact across as well.

(13 Aug 2025, 8:32 pm)Shrek wrote Interesting that the reaction I've seen on my social media and speaking with people I work with isn't very supportive of the drivers this time. I think 5% for most seems fair as it's higher than the majority will get.

Yeah we were offered 5% and I think 5% will get accepted but not in the way it was offered. It was 3.3% back dated to May putting us on £15.50p/h and a lump sum of around £300 then from 4th January a further 1.7% taking us to £15.76. I think it’ll get accepted if they offer it all up front back dated.

(14 Aug 2025, 10:18 pm)ReDemPTiion wrote Yeah we were offered 5% and I think 5% will get accepted but not in the way it was offered. It was 3.3% back dated to May putting us on £15.50p/h and a lump sum of around £300 then from 4th January a further 1.7% taking us to £15.76. I think it’ll get accepted if they offer it all up front back dated.

The unions have been poor in how they communicated the situation. That makes a lot more sense as to why it was rejected. Thanks for the info.

(16 Aug 2025, 9:11 am)Shrek wrote The unions have been poor in how they communicated the situation. That makes a lot more sense as to why it was rejected. Thanks for the info.

They did try and improve the offer which it was slightly improved 3% and then 2% but we would have lost £52 back pay and even though the managing director said he can’t do any earlier than January for the final goal of £15.76 he brought it forward to late October. He’s messing us about and we’re going to stick it out. Strike is definitely happening Monday 18th and probably Thursday 21st but it’s not confirmed and then it’s all out strike from August 31st until it is sorted. I hope it doesn’t get to that but if it does I hope it’s sorted quickly.

Could we see GNE put bigger allocations on the 74/684/301/354/355 & Q3 tomorrow? Might see a slight increase of passenger numbers with Stagecoach running less frequently.

Things seem to be going ok from what I've seen - no immediate disruption to colleague attendance.

Interesting the Union dragging out the Manchester line - compare the costs of living in Manchester to Newcastle and you'd understand why someone in Manchester would be wanting more than someone in Newcastle

(18 Aug 2025, 12:04 pm)Ambassador wrote Things seem to be going ok from what I've seen - no immediate disruption to colleague attendance.

Interesting the Union dragging out the Manchester line - compare the costs of living in Manchester to Newcastle and you'd understand why someone in Manchester would be wanting more than someone in Newcastle

Not sure why it would make much difference really. The costs for Stagecoach are the same at both, pretty much. 

Why should someone in Manchester be earning more than someone in the North East for doing the same job - ignoring terms and conditions here. You don't get more for working at Tesco in Macclesfield than you do at Durham, for example.

(17 Aug 2025, 1:21 pm)OrangeArrow49 wrote Could we see GNE put bigger allocations on the 74/684/301/354/355 & Q3 tomorrow? Might see a slight increase of passenger numbers with Stagecoach running less frequently.

I wouldn’t see the point of putting bigger allocations on the 74 however with the 684 it would be beneficial as i believe only Carlisle are operating the 685 which is every 2 hours so adding 684 would benefit gne,Q3 is pointless as you basically have all arriva services up north and down south you have the 12,18,39,40.i personally don’t know about the 354/355 as i never ever see them but with the 301 that would also help boost GNE numbers and cover for some 22 services from central station to Hadrian road.

Some interesting workings today with Slatyford operating some of Walkergate's routes, and vice versa - including Busways liveried 10646 out on the 40s.  Am sure tehre will be logic to it but not sure why if both depots were open they were cross covering work (and appears to be full boards e.g. 10646 on Byker runs all day, 11780 on Slatyford runs all day and plenty of other examples too)

(18 Aug 2025, 10:13 pm)stagecoachbusdepot wrote Some interesting workings today with Slatyford operating some of Walkergate's routes, and vice versa - including Busways liveried 10646 out on the 40s.  Am sure tehre will be logic to it but not sure why if both depots were open they were cross covering work (and appears to be full boards e.g. 10646 on Byker runs all day, 11780 on Slatyford runs all day and plenty of other examples too)

Some interesting driving going on too - in particular this one… https://bustimes.org/vehicles/scne-11300.../766629838