The Weymouth bus strike has entered its 9th week in their pursuit of their claim for parity with Yeovil Depot. They have notified a further 12 weeks of intermittent action.
The manager of Dorset and Hampshire First Bus, Marc Reddy, is on record as saying “To achieve £9 per hour, we must close Bridport Depot, make huge redundancies in Weymouth..”.
Meanwhile, the unexpected arrival of a cruise ship on Portland caused chaos as local services were cancelled in favour of its passengers. In addition, First has refused to issue wage slips, due last week, until workers return to shift today. When informed of the illegality of this move, First employees said “Get a solicitor!”.
Reddy has called for ACAS negotiations. He is so anxious to resolve the dispute that he has gone on holiday! UNITE has called for a show of solidarity on this Friday’s picket, at 8.00am.
Tim Nichols
DE also received a submission from a local resident who stated:
‘Well u never got your pay slips today when Mr Newport told me he would sort it. So when I was in town this morning I spoke to Mr Newport on his bus which he is having to drive till 8 pm what a shame. He told me he asked Chrissy Bainbridge and she said No we could not have them, so later I spoke to her on the Kings statue while she was waiting for her bus. I asked if that was right that she said no to us having our pay slips. Her reply was yes that is what she said, I then told her the law Ruling on this. She said we can only have them when we are working so I stated the law again, her reply was WELL GET A solicitor.
We don’t deserve to be treated like this so if anyone thinks I’m going to go back to work after 8 weeks until we have a definite change in there offer and a definite date for ACAS think again.!!!!!!!!!!!
This was told to me by a bus driver in Weymouth who wishes to remain anonymous.’
