London Bus strikes: Unite union hints at more chaos for commuters
Londoners face more commuting chaos over the coming weeks if the union representing bus drivers fails to get operators to come to the negotiating table.
Members of the Unite union at 18 bus companies walked out for a 24-hour strike yesterday over pay and conditions, causing chaos for passengers. Transport for London (TfL) said about only one-third of its 7,500 buses were running.
Unite said that with no collective pay deal there were 80 different pay rates for drivers doing the same job.
Alex Flynn, Unite’s head of media and campaigns, told Morning Wire that the union “ will not rule out further action if TfL and operators continue to rebuff us”.
Mike Weston, TfL’s director of buses, said: “It would be much better if the leadership of Unite actually worked with the bus companies rather than disrupting bus passengers.”
On Twitter, a commuter, Lloyd, wrote: “It was a war zone outside Victoria Tube station… I had to give a few folk the cold stare.”