Lothian Buses staff have voted to take strike action. Unite, their trade union, had recommended acceptance of the deal but unless a last ditch agreement can be found strike act will begin at 03:00am on Friday morning – the first day of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Unite’s regional industrial officer Lyn Turner said: “”Unite’s 1,700 strong Lothian Buses membership has democratically voted to reject the latest offer from management.
“There has been progress made in our negotiations through ACAS but yesterday’s vote is testimony to the fact that this was never about pay.
“The depth of feeling from our membership about the toxic management culture speaks for itself. Our members have considered the latest offer too little and too late.
“Unite remains committed to finding a resolution to the dispute and our door remains open for talks but as things stand the action will go ahead on the 2nd August.”
Lothian Buses remains hopeful that industrial action can be averted. In a statement issued yesterday, the company said: “Lothian has a great team who work hard every day to deliver a great service for the people of Edinburgh and the Lothians and it’s disappointing a small minority have chosen to vote for industrial action.
“Out of 1709 union members who were eligible to vote, only 693 voted for strike action, with 1016 either choosing not to vote or voting against action. In addition a large number of our employees were not eligible to vote as they are not part of the union.
“For the last few years, we have been working hard to modernise the business and have put in place robust policies and procedures to protect both our staff and our customers.
“We know that by creating a workplace where all team members treat each other with respect we will create a better and stronger business to deliver better services to all our customers.
“We have invested heavily in a new people function and driver safety support officers who are now both based across all garages to provide greater interaction and support to the teams that deliver frontline services everyday.
“An accusation of bullying and harassment which had been brought to our attention has already been fully investigated and dealt with appropriately as per our agreed company policies and procedures.
“For this reason, we are disappointed that union members have declined the deal agreed between ourselves and Unite.
“Edinburgh sits centre of the International festival stage and its troubling that Unite has chosen this time to bring about an action that will cause reputational damage to our business, city and country. We would appeal to Unite and all our staff to think of the repercussions this may have for the City’s reputation.
“We are still hopeful of a resolution at this stage and will continue working proactively with Unite and our staff to prevent any disruption to service.”
The city council is looking to broker a deal in an attempt to break the deadlock.
City council transport convener Cllr Lesley Macinnes said:”It is deeply regrettable that it has come to this and I know the prospect of disruption to the bus service at the busiest time of the year will be met with dismay right across the city.
“We are extremely disappointed the parties were not able to come to an agreement and will be seeking an urgent meeting to try and bring stability to the situation as soon as possible.”
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