Bus company agrees to talks

Bus workers at the Wilts and Dorset Bus Company have suspended their long-running dispute with the company over driving hours.

Support for the action by members of the RMT transport union led to the promise last month of more talks on what the union describes as a straightforward safety issue.

The company, which is part of the Go Ahead group, employs 375 drivers at depots in Blandford, Bournemouth, Lymington, Poole, Ringwood and Swanage. The row over hours and rosters erupted last summer, with drivers voting to take strike action over a refusal to accept that they should be rostered for no more than four-and-a-half hours’ continuous driving.

But trouble had been brewing for some months, with the union claiming that the company had “chipped away at drivers’ turn-around time” and ignored complaints they they were spending too much time behind the wheel. The imposition of duties and rosters without union reps’ agreement was another bone of contention.

The union suspended a planned strike in July so that talks could take place. But despite several meetings in the latter half of last year, managers “refused to budge” and were accused of “stonewalling” by RMT general secretary Bob Crow.

Following a further massive vote for action, four one-day strikes were scheduled in January. Three of these took place before the company agreed to reopen negotiations.