A striking Stagecoach South Wales bus driver was at today’s protest in Cwmbran with his five children. Drivers from the company are on day five of industrial action in a dispute over pay.
Stuart Whittington’s children made placards to wave at passing cars. He told Cwmbran Life: “We don’t want no cuts to sick pay. We don’t want new starters to get penalised for it, you know. It’s these extra cuts. He wants to give it to us in one hand and take it in another. It’s not fair, it’s not right. We are all sticking by £10.50, no strings. That’s what it’s got to be, otherwise we are going to be here this week, next week, and the Christmas rush comes and we will be here, until we get what we want.”
WATCH: Stuart talks about why he’s striking
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Drivers have been offered £10.10 an hour by their employers.
After pay negotiations failed on Thursday Nigel Winter, managing director of Stagecoach South Wales said: “We know that our employees deserve a good pay rise and today’s improved offer would see us meet their 10.5% increase in pay rate expectation within two years, and a 12.6% increase in pay in the next 12 months. However Unite refuse to even take the offer to a workplace vote. The pay rise that Unite is demanding would mean cuts to bus services and putting jobs at risk, and is simply is not sustainable right now.
“We’re sorry that Unite are continuing with strike action that will impact our services and do not seem prepared to put an end to the dispute. We remain open and available for talks with Unite and ACAS at their convenience in order to settle this dispute and stand by our offer that would give staff a large pay rise with up to £1,000 of back pay.”
Service updates
For the latest information on how services are affected follow Stagecoach South Wales on Twitter or visit their website.
