Commuters urged to work from home as strikes bite
COMMUTERS across Greater Manchester were being advised by transport bosses to work from home this week as train and bus staff prepared to strike.
First bus drivers were due to walk out over pay and conditions on Monday – with 43 routes set to be hit.
Northern Rail staff were due to strike yesterday and tomorrow (Thursday) over driveronly operated trains. It will slash services by more than half.
Both actions are taking place in the week of the Conservative party conference and transport bosses were warning disruption is inevitable.
John Fryers, of TfGM, said: “On strike days, if you can work from home, I would encourage you to look at that. The other train companies are still running services.
“Metrolink is still running. There are other travel options, but clearly they will be busier and the roads will be busier.”
It could be a month of pain for some bus passengers, with First’s Unite members planning to extend their action to October 9, 16, 23 and 30.
A total of 43 routes will be affected by the 679 staff planning to walk out from the operator’s Bolton and Rusholme depots. They include 33 Bolton services, three Rusholme routes, and seven school buses.
Phil Medlicott, managing director at First Manchester, said: “We’re extremely disappointed that staff from two of our depots have decided to take strike action despite a good offer being put forward.
“I am truly sorry that our customers will be affected by this action.”
Neil Clarke, regional officer for Unite at First Bus, said they’d been unable to reach an agreement over pay.
“There are two bargaining units of employees at First Manchester who are in dispute over the 2017 pay award,” he said.
“The offers are inadequate.
“It’s extremely regrettable that members of the community will be inconvenienced, however, workers do not take the drastic step to engage in industrial action lightly.”
The train driver strike has forced Northern to slash more than half its daytime services on both the Tuesday and the Thursday.
It leaves 1,200 routes in operation and bosses have warned commuters to expect ‘extremely busy’ trains.
RMT strike action is also taking place on Merseyrail, Southern and Greater Anglia on October 3 and 5.
Sharon Keith, Northern’s regional director, said: “RMT continues to reject our offers to talk and we are disappointed that the union has called this further strike action.”
But Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said parent company Arriva had ‘wrecked’ the talk process.
He added: “The travelling public will be rightly angry that Arriva are prepared to play as fast and loose with the talks process as they are with passenger safety.
“They must be forced back to the negotiating table and need to prove that they are prepared to talk seriously.”