First bus strikes: three days of cancelled services next week

UPDATE 4pm Thursday 3 February 2022:

First Manchester has confirmed that strikes due to take place on Friday 4, Monday 7, Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 February have been called off as the union ballots drivers on a revised pay offer.

The decision means that all First Manchester bus services will operate as normal.

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First Manchester is advising customers to plan well in advance and have alternative travel arrangements in place to manage the possibility of continued industrial action at its Oldham depot which will mean all services are cancelled.

The union has announced its intention to hold strikes on Monday 7, Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 February.

All dedicated school services are expected to run and details of routes can be found on the Transport for Greater Manchester website www.tfgm.com.

Ian Humphreys, Managing Director of First Manchester, said: “We answered the union’s demands on pay some weeks ago in an offer which remains available.

“In a further meeting last week to try and resolve our differences, the union confirmed that we had met their requirement around changes to rota patterns. In a bid to resolve the dispute, the company then offered a substantial increase to the lump sum payment.

“The union has not yet given its members the opportunity to ballot on this or another alternative which we have made available.

“Prolonging this dispute with the possibility of more strikes in February is not the way forward to finding a resolution and is causing significant hardship to our customers and our colleagues and their families.

“I would like to apologise sincerely to all our customers in advance for the further disruption and inconvenience any continuation of industrial action will cause.”

Customers with pre-bought tickets for the dates of industrial action will be given a refund or replacement tickets to use for future travel.

Further information can be found on the First Manchester website.