Stagecoach: Fife workers overwhelmingly reject latest pay offer

Drivers, engineering and administrative staff, and cleaners have also overwhelmingly backed taking strike action in support of their claim.

Trade union, Unite, want a “fair” pay deal based on the Retail Price Index inflation figure 3.8% at July plus 1% .

Stagecoach East has offered a 2.4% pay rise backdated to the start of May.

The company’s offer includes new start drivers reaching full pay rate six months earlier, and a commitment to a further pay review for east Scotland employees in May 2022

Stagecoach bosses said the 2.4% offer to staff at depots in Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Leven and St Andrews would see them get up to £633.33 more per year.

But, while Unite accepted it marked “a step forward” it fell short of its demand.

Today it revealed workers had voted heavily in thein favour of rejecting the offer.

In Fife, around 440 Stagecoach East workers rejected the deal.

Across Perth and Strathtay, around 160 workers voted 91%.against it.

Dougie Maguire, Unite regional coordinator, said: “The Stagecoach East workers have clearly told Stagecoach to go back and think again.”

“The company has tried and failed to suggest that our mandate for strike action was solely related to a previous pay offer.

“It was not as these rejections demonstrate.

The company had previously said it would “leave no stone unturned in a bid to reach a settlement."

After the pay offer was rejected, a Stagecoach East Scotland spokesperson said: “We are disappointed at the result of the most recent vote on our proposals.

"Our priority is to agree an offer that is fair to our people, and which also ensures the long-term sustainability of the bus network for local communities.

"We want to work together with the union on a deal which will achieve both of these objectives at a time when passenger numbers using the country's bus networks are significantly below the level needed to cover the costs of running services.

"We are committed to seeking an agreement and remain open to continuing discussions with the union."

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