HUNDREDS of Oxford Bus Company drivers, engineers and office staff were balloted on a final pay offer yesterday in an attempt to avert strike action.
About 400 members of the union Unite were due to vote on whether to agree on a pay offer of 1.2 per cent, which the union has recommended should be accepted.
They had previously been offered 1.6 and 1.4 per cent – both rejected – but the company has dropped a condition putting new workers on a lower pay scale. Employees have already voted to take strike action.
Unite’s regional industrial organiser Ian Methven said: “If the new pay deal is accepted the matter will be done and dusted, but it if isn’t there will be industrial action.”
Seven days’ notice of any strike action must be given first.
One bus company employee said: “This is the worst offer we have had.
“I hope the workforce hasn’t been ground down by this long protracted process and realise we have got a worse deal than when we started.”
Oxford Bus Company refused to comment.
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