Meetings held to resolve the pay dispute between Arriva North West and staff failed to progress on Monday, OTS News understands.
Unite staff at Arriva NW have been on strike since 20 July, with bus routes throughout the North West subject to cancellation.
One source familiar with the talks told OTS News that discussions “broke down” and indicated that representatives of Arriva “walked out” of a meeting held on Monday. Another indicated that the strike could be set to continue for weeks.
However Arriva have now said that an offer to make drivers “the highest paid in the region” was rejected by union officials.
Arriva NW told OTS this evening: “We are extremely disappointed that despite further negotiations today with Unite and GMB and a very generous improved offer, the Unions have once again walked away without even agreeing to put our offer to their members. This means we continue to face ongoing strike action across the North West region, causing continued misery for passengers.
“We have worked tirelessly to reach an agreement on a way forward, today making an offer that would have seen our drivers being the highest paid in the region, with no changes to current employee benefits and a lump sum of backdated pay to April 1st 2022. Our customers will share our frustration at the Unions’ unreasonable stance. We are seeking to engage ACAS to help bring a resolution to this situation and we urge Unite and GMB to immediately reconsider their position, call an end to strike action and give their members the opportunity to ballot on our generous pay rise.”
Around 1,800 Unite and GMB members have walked out on strike across Arriva’s 11 North West garages.
Arriva say they have offered drivers an 8.5% pay rise but this is staggered over time with just 5% being paid from April. The proposal also carries reductions in sick pay and an increase in the absentee days required to activate it.
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