It hasn't really had any national coverage (probably because it isn't happening in London), but Arriva Yorkshire buses have been on strike for... 22 days now with no end in sight. They did really well out of privatization and control large parts of West Yorkshire and much of East/North/South too. I think in all areas of West Yorkshire they're the dominant company and in maybe 80% of cases they're the only company. Any time I've walked past the Wakefield bus station it has been completely deserted with every single signboard reading "CANCELLED".
My area is a bit of a scattered conurbation and a lot of my colleagues who rely on public transport have been completely stuck for over 3 weeks now (getting a taxi from some of the outer reaches would be at least £50 each way). A few are in a lucky position that they can make a longer route via the rail system (when that isn't on strike itself), plus a handful of bus routes are still served by the few independents still in business - though we're talking about a handful of buses running a limited service. Probably less than 5% of what's normally available, certainly in my city anyway. It's causing enormous inconvenience.
The strike is over pay. And you know what? I fully support it, because the wages they're being offered are absolutely comical. For your first year as a driver, you're on £9.79 an hour - that's a Freddo bar an hour above minimum wage. But if you stick it out for three years, you'll get onto their top tier of a whopping £12.15! Might as well just push a broom round a yard, it's less bother. The company isn't making a loss, they can afford to pay a decent amount, it just seems like it's an operational decision - they'd rather have a low-wage, high-turnover staffing pool (and the awful service this will inevitably cause) than staff who are happy doing their jobs because they know they can pay their rent. Because for most bus customers, it's Hobson's choice - you can get the lousy bus service from the one company operating it or you can hit the bricks.
My area is a bit of a scattered conurbation and a lot of my colleagues who rely on public transport have been completely stuck for over 3 weeks now (getting a taxi from some of the outer reaches would be at least £50 each way). A few are in a lucky position that they can make a longer route via the rail system (when that isn't on strike itself), plus a handful of bus routes are still served by the few independents still in business - though we're talking about a handful of buses running a limited service. Probably less than 5% of what's normally available, certainly in my city anyway. It's causing enormous inconvenience.
The strike is over pay. And you know what? I fully support it, because the wages they're being offered are absolutely comical. For your first year as a driver, you're on £9.79 an hour - that's a Freddo bar an hour above minimum wage. But if you stick it out for three years, you'll get onto their top tier of a whopping £12.15! Might as well just push a broom round a yard, it's less bother. The company isn't making a loss, they can afford to pay a decent amount, it just seems like it's an operational decision - they'd rather have a low-wage, high-turnover staffing pool (and the awful service this will inevitably cause) than staff who are happy doing their jobs because they know they can pay their rent. Because for most bus customers, it's Hobson's choice - you can get the lousy bus service from the one company operating it or you can hit the bricks.
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