Transport chaos grows as London Underground and Yorkshire bus drivers strike

Commuters in the UK face increasing transport chaos as London Underground workers and Arriva bus drivers in Yorkshire go on strike.

The strikes, which both begin today June 6, will see most of London’s underground shut for 24-hours although overground services will continue to run.

Bus passengers in Yorkshire have also been told to expect significant disruption as Arriva staff begin their strike on the same day. The strike follows a vote amongst its 650 members, 96 per cent of whom voted to take action over pay.

Arriva had offered a 4.1 per cent pay increase according to Leeds-Live, however, the offer was rejected because it does not reflect the real inflation rate (RPI) which currently stands at 11.1 per cent.

Unlike the London Underground strike, which is for 24-hours, the Arriva strike will see indefinite action being taken that could see bus users without services for much of this week and possibly longer. The strike was due to start at 2 am on June 6.

Services throughout Yorkshire will be affected including those in West, South, East and North Yorkshire, however, those that operate into the North East are unaffected.  

The union Unite, said that Arriva’s low pay across the county means bus workers are struggling to make ends meet with the cost-of-living crises affecting their members badly. According to Unite, newly recruited bus drivers are paid £9.78 (€11.40) an hour, which is 28 pence above the minimum wage.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham told Leeds-Live: “Arriva is part of a multi-billion company. It has no business demanding that workers get by on pitiful low pay so that its boardroom can get ever-richer. Arriva can easily afford to pay decently – it should do just that, or face industrial action.

“Unite’s members, like all workers, are being pummelled by the cost of living crisis – they cannot and will not accept a real-terms pay cut. Unite will be giving our members its full and total support until this dispute is resolved.”

A spokesperson for Arriva UK Bus said: “We are deeply disappointed that we were unable to reach an agreement with Union representatives today and Unite have confirmed they plan to hold a strike for an indefinite period across services in Yorkshire from 02.00 Monday 6 June.

“Such unjustified strike action will have an extremely negative impact on communities across the region, particularly at this crucial time of year for students undertaking GCSE exams.

“We put forward an improved and generous pay offer, which we were led to believe met Unite’s ambitions. Yet we now find the goal posts have been moved with demands for further increases.

“The mandate for strikes arose from a ballot of Unite members on a previous pay offer, meaning strikes have been announced without the improved proposal being put to employees by the Union. Arriva is calling on Unite to abandon their plans for this damaging and counter-productive strike and to ballot their members on the new offer.”

Arriva has said that all journey planning in the Yorkshire region on the Arriva Website and Arriva UK Bus app will be disabled until such a time as services resume.

For more information on the Yorkshire bus drivers’ strike, visit the Arriva UK website.

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