First Manchester announces strike action at Oldham postponed

  • Unite recommend new pay offer to drivers
  • Ballot to be held on Wednesday 6 September

First Manchester has announced that planned strike action at its Oldham depot from next Monday 4 September has been called off.

A new pay offer has been agreed with Unite and a ballot of drivers will be held on Wednesday 6 September.

Rob Hughes, Operations Director of First Manchester, said:

“We are delighted to have agreed a settlement and that Unite has postponed its industrial action immediately.

“Unite has confirmed the union will recommend our latest pay offer to its members in a ballot next week.

“Our team remains focused on delivering excellent services in Oldham and the wider region. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding throughout our determined efforts to end this dispute.” 

Ends

Notes to editors

Media enquiries to Richard Harrison, PR Manager, First Bus North & West Yorkshire 07973 668116 richard.m.harrison@firstbus.co.uk  

About First Bus 

First Bus is one of the UK’s largest bus operators. Making journeys easier for our customers, we were the first national bus operator to accept contactless card payments across all of our services and our First Bus App is voted ‘best in class’ amongst UK bus operators. Our most recent investments are in new, state-of-the-art buses across our key networks.

We work proactively with our local authority partners, making a positive impact on air quality, tackling congestion and improving customer experience. We are focused on First Bus becoming a leader in the transition to a low-carbon future and are committed to operating a zero emission bus fleet by 2035; we have pledged not to purchase any new diesel buses after December 2022. We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland. 

First Bus is an equal opportunities employer and a division of FirstGroup.