30 November 2005
Members of Amicus trade union at First Bus in Cheshire have suspended strike action planned for Thursday 1st December, Friday 2nd December and Monday 5th December in a bid to resolve the ongoing pay dispute.
The suspension of planned strike action follows meetings with the company and ACAS which resulted in a further offer by First Bus.
Amicus trade union representing the striking First Bus engineers will now be balloting its' members on the company's latest offer.
Amicus Regional Officer, Lawrence Chapple-Gill, said:
"Once again union members have shown that they are prepared to consider all possible avenues to resolve this dispute and as a consequence have decided to call off strikes planned over the next few days."
The result of the ballot will be issued by Wednesday 7th December. If union members vote to accept the current offer the dispute will be settled. If the offer is rejected then further talks will be required but the union has warned that more strikes may take place. An overtime ban will continue until the dispute is settled.
Amicus members at First Bus in Chester and Wirral took industrial action earlier this month on Tuesday 22nd November and Friday 25th November.
The latest offer includes a 4% increase from April 2005, a 1.5% increase from October 2005, a 6.19% increase from April 2006 and 0.86 increase from July 2006 for skilled workers. The offer comprises of a 4% increase April 2005, 4% increase April 2006, and for some of the lower paid cleaners another 1% increase in September 2006, in addition overtime premiums for cleaners to be introduced from April 2007 for non skilled workers.
