BREAKING: GoNorthEast drivers reject deal, vote for Indefinite strike

BREAKING: GoNorthEast Bus Drivers, represented by UNITE union, have rejected a proposed 10% rise pay deal and have opted to vote for an indefinite strike.

The union voted this morning to reject the proposed pay rise, calling it “insulting.”

93% voted for the measure.

This means a continuous strike will start, as of tomorrow, involving not only bus drivers but also its engineers, maintenance workers and depot crews.

The entire GoNorthEast Service will be effectively suspended and will continue until a deal is reached.

Local authorities are warning that the situation will cause chaos to communities, but the drivers have defended their decision arguing they are “struggling to make ends meet” and are “working overtime.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham in their Union press release said: “Go North East are betraying their workers and are now responsible for the disruption caused to people living in the North East.

Their parent company is awash with cash, they pay their CEO six figure salaries and yet, as our survey shows, they pay their workforce such low wages they are forcing them to use foodbanks to feed their families.

This stubbornness, refusing to pay a decent wage to their workers, is what’s caused this dispute and only Go North East can end it by improving their offer. Unite will be backing our members to the hilt in that fight.”

Unite regional officer Mark Sanderson added: “We have repeatedly asked Go North East for a fair pay increase and again and again dragged their feet and refused to make a decent pay offer. We have drivers pushed to the brink of tiredness, working all hours God sends and skipping meals to make ends meet – yet their employer shows nothing but callous disregard for their wellbeing.

Go North East have massively misread the strength of feeling from their workers on this issue and Unite will be backing them the whole way.”