'Staff walkout could bring Bee Network buses to standstill'

GREATER Manchester's buses could be brought to a ‘standstill; a union has warned as workers vote on whether to take strike action.

- By JOSEPH TIMAN

Thousands of drivers and staff in the city-region will be asked if they want to go on strike after their ‘poor pay offers’ were rejected by their trade union representatives. Workers from Stagecoach, Metroline Manchester and First Bus Rochdale are taking part in the ballot.

If they decide to go on strike, the ‘coordinated’ walkouts could take place across Greater Manchester as soon as the middle of next month. It comes eight months after all buses across the cityregion were brought under public control as part of Andy Bunham’s Bee Network.

Under the mayor's new London-style public transport network, bus companies now bid for contracts to run each route across the city-region. Several operators, who employ drivers and staff directly, currently have contracts to run services in Greater Manchester.

Workers at three of those operators are now voting on whether to take industrial action with the ballots closing in two weeks’ time.