Unite has confirmed today (September 18) the dates that Go North East bus drivers will take part in two weeks of strike action beginning at the end of this month.

Public transport users are set to face disruption to bus travel from the end of September as Go North East bus drivers take to the picket line in a long-running pay dispute.

Drivers have confirmed they will walk out from September 30 to October 6 as well as from October 14 to 20.

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The Northern Echo: Transport company Go North East announced on Friday (August 18) that it had made its drivers

This announcement comes four days after 98 per cent of 1,300 workers from its six depots in Sunderland, Washington, Gateshead, Hexham, Consett and Percy Main voted in favour of strike action.

Currently, the routes and times that will be affected by strike action are unknown.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Go North East need to take a long hard look at themselves and how appallingly they’ve treated their workforce.”

“Our members will have the full support of their union as they take to the picket line in their fight for a fair pay deal.”

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Unite regional officer Dave Telford added: “Unite has a laser-like focus on the jobs, pay and conditions of its members – we will use every resource at our disposal to bring victory to the workers.”

Go North East business director, Ben Maxfield, said, “The two most talked about inflation measures, CPI and RPI are currently running at 6.4 per cent and nice per cent respectively.  Our offer of 9.11 per cent beats both these figures and means our driver pay package will be among the very best in the region.

“Unite is claiming - without any attempt at justification - that drivers have been offered a below inflation pay increase.  The bottom line is that this simply isn’t true, which means that Unite would be striking for something they have already been offered.

“It’s not in our interests, or our passengers’ interests, to have a strike.  Unfortunately, it appears some elements within Unite are hell-bent on this course of action, but we believe most of our drivers will want to see successful ACAS negotiations.

“Of course, we value our drivers highly, and want to do the best for them.  We never take them for granted, and we will be entering talks – if Unite accepts them – in that spirit”.