First Bus Oldham strike: dates of industrial action and the bus routes around Greater Manchester not affected

Bus strikes are set to affect parts of Greater Manchester this week and into next. Today (July 3) is the first day of industrial action by workers at First Bus’ Oldham depot. 

The strike is set to last 48 hours, running as consecutive days. Further days of strike action are set to take place later in the month. 

These dates are Friday July 7, Monday July 10, Tuesday July 11 and Thursday July 13. According to First Bus, tickets purchased on a strike day will not be refunded and customers are advised to check if a service is operating. Customers with pre-bought tickets for strike dates will be given a refund or replacement tickets to use for future travel

First bus services not affected by the strike

First Manchester has plans in place to run all the school services it manages from Monday 3 July. These are: 701, 705, 774, 775, 784, 788, 793, 794, 795, 812, 820, 821, 823, 825, 829, 830, 831, 835, 836, 837, 838, 841, 851, 861, 868, 871, 875, 879, 884, 887, 890, 891, 893, 894, S350, S84

Ian Humphreys, Managing Director of First Manchester, said: “We are very disappointed and dismayed at the decision to commence strike action at our Oldham depot.

“The generous pay offer we made to the union of a 15.2% increase between now and October is well above inflation and would have helped our drivers to manage the cost of living as quickly as possible. Industrial action will be damaging to everyone and cause severe disruption to the daily lives of our customers who rely on the bus to get to work, education and for appointments.”

“We will be unable to operate any other bus services from Monday and would like to apologise in advance and encourage customers to make alternative travel arrangements. We urge Unite to return to negotiations so we can finalise a settlement and prevent a prolonged dispute.”

Unite regional officer Colin Hayden said: “First Manchester's claim that Unite isn’t willing to continue talks is untrue. I have told the company we are willing to hold talks today, Saturday and Sunday to resolve this dispute. First Manchester know what they need to do to avoid strike action – put forward an offer our members can accept."