8 August 2024
RMT Press Office:
RMT members working for First South West will take strike action on August 9 and 12, after the bus company refused to negotiate an end to the dispute.
The union put forward 3 different counterproposals as a basis for negotiating a settlement to prevent further strike action and to bring both sides together.
The counterproposals were produced after holding extensive depot-by-depot consultations with our members who were determined to reject the company’s latest proposals.
However, First South West not only ruled out discussing the union's proposals but went on the offensive in the media spinning falsehoods about RMT members.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "Our members are furious with company MD Simon Goff for refusing to sit down with our negotiators to hammer out a deal and instead attempting to discredit the union in the media.
"First South West already have some of the poorest pay rates for bus workers in the region and have added insult to injury with ludicrous comments about their own staff.
"It is a viable business with a parent company boasting profits of £204 million so the idea RMT's counterproposals are unaffordable is laughable and bus workers know it.
"Industrial relations disputes are solved through dialogue between the union and employer, not childish rhetoric or producing fantasy figures to try to undermine our strike action.
"Our First South West members are now more determined than ever to take effective strike action on August 9 and 12 to hammer home the point to the employer that their vital service to the local community cannot be taken for granted."
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