A bus strike across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire has been called off after union members accepted an above-inflation pay offer.
The Unite union has called off the strike after bus operator Arriva offered drivers an improved pay deal of 11.1% in Hertfordshire and 10.4% in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
Previously, Arriva had offered workers pay rises of between four and six per cent.
The deal also includes an agreement that there will be parity on the top rate of pay within two years acorss the seven depots involved in the dispute: Luton, Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, Ware, Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members secured this vastly improved deal by standing together in their union.”
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An Arriva spokesperson said: “We are very pleased for our customers and colleagues across the Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire regions, that we have been able to reach an agreement with Unite which brings confidence back to our bus network in this region. Our latest pay offer has been accepted, through a ballot by Unite members across the region.”
Unite has been involved in several disputes with bus operators over pay. Last week, 1,600 bus drivers employed by London United accepted a 10% pay rise, an improvement on an earlier 3.6% offer, after four days of industrial action.
Drivers at First Cymru in Wales also accepted a 14.3% pay offer, alongside a minimum hourly rate of £12.
However, 600 Arriva bus drivers in Kent are still set to strike on 30 September in a dispute over pay.
Elsewhere, Royal Mail workers are set to hold 19 days of strike action over pay and terms and conditions, including days during Black Friday and Cyber Monday week where there is likely to be a significant increase in parcel volumes.
Different groups of workers will strike on various days, but all workers are set to strike together on 13, 20 and 25 October and 28 November.
Cleaners, maintenance workers and admin workers, members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), voted 93.5% in favour of a strike.
The union claimed that the company only offered an annual pay rise to anyone who did not receive a ‘real’ Living Wage adjustment from the company in April, which excluded the majority of cleaners.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “This is a significant announcement, but it is one which matches the level of anger our members feel at the way Royal Mail Group has treated them.
“Postal workers across the UK now face the fight of their lives to save their jobs and the service they provide to every household and business in the UK.
“If Royal Mail Group are allowed to get away with this then it sends a green light to every rogue big business in the UK.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said it has invited the CWU to talks with Acas.
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“Further strikes and resistance to transformation by CWU will only make our financial position worse, and threatens the long-term job security of our postmen and women. The CWU has a responsibility to recognise the reality of the situation Royal Mail faces as a business and engage urgently on the changes required,” the spokesperson said.
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