FIRST SOUTH WEST BUS BALLOT

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 ::september 2022 :: RMTnews 9 Members at First South West, which runs services in Somerset as well as Cornwall, are being balloted for strike action by over 400 RMT members across the region after the company consistently failing to table a decent pay offer in negotiations that have been running since March. This is despite the fact that in 2021/22 First Group PLC paid out £500 million to shareholders and during the year First Group’s revenue was £5.6 billion and its operating profit was £226 million. Taunton bus branch chair Mark Hoban said that the offer consisted of a flat rate of £12 an hour up from £11.05p and an overtime rate at just 5p an hour more until June 2023. The company is also demanding that the anniversary date be moved from April to April to August to August leaving members losing out on four months back pay. “What they are saying is that we have to pay of the pay rise ourselves through the loss of backpay. “Members are just not prepared to pay for their own pay rises and this is a company that can afford to gives its workers a decent pay rise,” he said. Taunton bus branch secretary Paul Main further explained that if members signed up to the present offer, they would lose up to £800. “We went to ACAS to negotiate and it became clear to them quite quickly that there was no point in continuing the talks as the company would not improve its offer,” he said. He explains that the branch, which has just under a hundred members, meets once a month on a Sunday morning in an unassuming office on Taunton High Street after years of experimenting with different times to ensure maximum attendance. “With members doing mostly 12 hour shifts it was difficult to juggle their working hours and get the balance right. “We finally settled for Sunday mornings but still some members have to leave early to go on shift,” he says. The main subject that came up in the July meeting immediately was the long- running battle over pay and members appear tired of hearing the same demands about giving up back-dated pay by moving anniversary dates to August to August. “It’s such an obvious trick to save the company money at our expense that no-one is buying it,” said one delegate. “What gets me is that I know drivers that have left the industry to deliver for supermarkets that earn more than us. “How can it be right that you earn less money transporting the general public around than carting cabbages around?” she said to a murmur of approval. The ballot ends on September 15 and if the new thresholds are met contained within the new Tory anti-trade union laws strike action could take place as early as this month. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch sent a message of support for the hardworking bus workers at First South West. “Make no mistake will be supporting bus workers in Somerset and Cornwall with the same vigour as those members involved in the national rail and tube disputes. “By moving to ballot you have already made clear to your employer that you will not stand by and watch your standards of living drop before your eyes. “Good luck to you all and, if it comes to it, see you on the picket lines,” he said. FIRST SOUTH WEST BUS BALLOT Members at Taunton bus branch are among those being balloted for strike action in Somerset and Cornwall