The leader and deputy leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council have thrown their weight behind striking bus drivers amid a pay dispute with Stagecoach.

Drivers represented by Unite the Union and based out of Cwmbran, Blackwood and Brynmawr depots want a “no strings” pay rise to £10.50 an hour.

Stagecoach South Wales has offered the drivers the increase, but according to Unite, it has been offered without paid breaks and a reduction in sick pay agreements. However, this has been denied by Stagecoach.

Drivers at Blackwood are currently paid £9.50 an hour, while drivers at Brynmawr are paid £9.25.

Council leader Philippa Marsden and deputy leader Jamie Pritchard joined the drivers in Blackwood for their first strike day on Tuesday, October 19.

In a joint statement the councillors said: “Bus drivers have continued to drive the public around right through the pandemic. We believe the drivers are more than worthy of the £10.50 per hour request from their union. It was a pleasure to support the workers on the official picket line to show our support, and this will continue”.

Confirmed strike dates for Stagecoach bus drivers in Blackwood

Tuesday, October 19, to Saturday, October 23.

Monday October 25.

Friday, October 29 and Saturday, October 30.

Monday, November 1, to Saturday, November 6.

Monday, November 8 and Tuesday, November 9.

Affected services

Services across Aberdare, Caerphilly town (except Service 26), Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taf are not affected.

Latest information can be found on Stagecoach’s website.

There had been hope the strike could be avoided with talks being held last week through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). However, after two rounds of talks, the drivers’ strike is going ahead.

Unite Wales Regional Officer Alan McCarthy said: “Stagecoach have pushed our members into a corner. Not only has the company rejected our pay offer it is also attacking our members sick pay and paid breaks. Unite is regretful for the inconvenience this action will cause to passengers but our members have been left with no option but to strike.”

“Unite representatives entered into talks with ACAS with optimism that there would be movement from Stagecoach. Instead, the message was ‘We think you deserve it, but we don’t want to shoulder the cost’. That’s a bitter pill to swallow.”

Unite Wales Regional Secretary, Peter Hughes, said: “We know what’s around the corner for working people – higher fuel prices, a ticking time bomb on energy prices and high inflation driving up the cost of living.

“Stagecoach say ‘we won’t shoulder the cost’ even though they’ve benefitted from public funding support throughout the pandemic. This is a clear example of employers wanting workers to pay the price of Covid.

“Stagecoach need to listen to their workers, the public and political stakeholders. These drivers deserve fair pay now, without attacking their terms and conditions.”

Stagecoach has already agreed pay deals for drivers based at its depots in Caerphilly and Merthyr Tydfil and engineers at Cwmbran and Blackwood.

Stagecoach said it had offered drivers at Brynmawr, Blackwood and Cwmbran an average pay increase of 8.6%, plus 3% back pay. The company said this offer “would see existing staff conditions protected and sick pay retained”.

The company said passenger levels are “significantly down” compared to before the pandemic and that fares did not cover the day-to-day costs of running services, with Welsh Government support keeping buses on the road.

Nigel Winter, Managing Director of Stagecoach South Wales, said: “We are committed to giving our staff a good pay rise, which is rightly deserved, and finding a solution to end this dispute, but any pay increase must be sustainable for our business to ensure the long-term viability of jobs, services and bus depots.”

Mr Winter said demands made by Unite “continue to be the cause of disruption”.

He added: “Unite seem more interested in pushing their political agenda and moving the goalposts to demand an unaffordable pay rise backdated to April, which is not achievable without damaging bus services and putting jobs at risk.”