Dan George, Tyneside Socialist Party
GMB Stagecoach strikers in Sunderland are out on the picket lines in droves. When we visited, they welcomed support from Geordies from Tyneside. Strike-breaking drivers, mostly from management, were called out for what they were – scabs – as each bus pulled up to the stop. Spirits were high.
The strike has been called because Stagecoach Northeast offered a 4% pay increase, with an additional 2% later in the year.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Stagecoach, Martin Griffiths, has seen his pay rise from £900,000 in 2021 to £1,700,000 this year, while bus drivers have seen a real-term decrease. Another example of the runaway greed in the post-Covid era.
Many strikers spoke of their disillusionment with the rightward trend of the Labour Party. When we handed out our Socialist Party strike bulletin, which had the headline ‘Tories Out!’, one of the strikers commented it wasn’t just the Tories that needed to be out, it’s the whole system of capitalism! We agree.
Strikers told us that the GMB had originally offered to only strike between 10am and 3pm, but were dismissed by management. They also offered to go to shops for older people whose weekend may have been disrupted by the strikes. Stuart Gilhespy, GMB organiser, said: “The last thing Sunderland’s bus drivers want to do is strike, but Stagecoach have backed them into a corner. They’re refusing to negotiate and drivers are desperate. It’s a shame management won’t let members work during the rush-hour, so that families and children could get to work and school. But Stagecoach bosses seem hell-bent on causing as much misery to the people of Sunderland as they can.”
