Sunderland bus strike: Further walkouts for November and December

Last month members of the GMB Union at Stagecoach North East went on strike for five days

Bus drivers in Sunderland have announced plans to strike at Christmas as their dispute over pay continues.

The GMB union, which represents the Stagecoach drivers, said services would be affected for 10 days across November and December.

Drivers have already taken six strike days after rejecting a rise of 4%, with a further 2% to follow later on.

Stagecoach North East urged the GMB to reopen talks in a bid "to try and agree a realistic pay deal".

"Withdrawing their labour"

The union stated drivers would take action on 5 November, 15-19 November, 23-24 December and 26-27 December.

Stuart Gilhespy, GMB organiser, said: "Drivers are doing the only thing they can to make ends meet for their families - withdrawing their labour.

"Instead of continuing to bring misery to their staff and the people of Sunderland, why won't Stagecoach get round the table and offer a pay deal to help drivers with the cost of living crisis?"

An attempt to reach a pay agreement with hundreds of bus drivers and avert a strike failed at the beginning of October.

A representative of Stagecoach said it had "made offers to the GMB union which would make Sunderland drivers amongst the highest paid of any bus drivers in the region".

He continued: "In spite of this, today's announcement regarding further industrial action represents yet another demonstration of GMB attempting to maximise disruption to local communities during an important period for families across Sunderland.

"We would like to assure customers that, if these strike days go ahead, we will be doing everything we can to keep services running to support our local communities, with full service details announced at our earliest opportunity."

Stagecoach North East said the offered deal would have made drivers "amongst the highest paid" in the region