
11 October 2021
RMT Press Office:
Bus union RMT on growing crisis of staff shortages which threaten lifeline services.
Bus union RMT has responded to reports today that the bus industry is the latest sector facing a chronic workforce shortage as low pay and poor working conditions force drivers and other staff to seek work elsewhere with dire consequences for lifeline local services.
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said:
“For years bus workers have been underpaid and undervalued and the exodus of staff from the industry was a crisis that has been coming and will have a devastating impact on lifeline services.
“We now risk a serious escalation in transport poverty with those without cars in areas where buses are the only option left cut adrift.
“This is a scandal that has been cooked up by the toxic combination of bus deregulation and private sector greed. The solution is a planned bus network, publicly controlled, which values both the staff and the vital services they provide.”