Great Britain: London’s Unite union bus drivers go on strike to seek a collective bargaining agreement that will curb wage disparities for the city’s drivers

Bus drivers in London, members of the Unite union, have taken a one-day strike action in pursuit of a London-wide collective bargaining agreement with all the eighteen bus operators in the capital. The drivers are seeking one single agreement because disparities in pay have arisen, where hourly pay rates vary by up to £3 for the same work. Currently, there are over 80 different pay rates for drivers doing the same job. The drivers are also seeking a single agreement to help push up wages from the current maximum of £12 per hour that just a few companies pay.
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The bus companies involved in the dispute are: Arriva North, Arriva South, Selkent, Go Ahead, London General, Metroline, Metroline West, Metrobus, CT Plus, London United, Abellio West London, London Sovereign, Stagecoach, Blue Triangle, Northumberland Park, Tower Transit, Docklands and London Central.

Of the 670 bus routes, about 630 routes were affected by the industrial action with the consequence that of the 7,500 buses normally in service only a third were operating. This was in spite of a l

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