First Manchester advises bus users to plan travel in advance, ahead of planned strikes.

First Manchester to advising customers to plan well in advance and have alternative travel arrangements in place next week, to manage the possibility of three days of industrial action at its Oldham depot which will mean all services are cancelled.

- Strikes will take place on Monday 31 January and Tuesday 1 and Friday 4 February

- No services will operate from Oldham depot

- School services expected to operate

- Vantage V1 and V2 services unaffected

The Unite union has announced its intention to hold strikes on Monday 31 January and Tuesday 1 and Friday 4 February.  

All dedicated school services are expected to run and details of routes can be found on the Transport for Greater Manchester website www.tfgm.com.

The Vantage V1 and V2 services based at a depot in Bolton for routes from Leigh and Atherton to Manchester Royal Infirmary are unaffected and continue to operate normally.

Ian Humphreys, Managing Director of First Manchester, said: “The Company has offered a substantial increase to £13 per hour which meets the trade union’s request for parity with another large bus company in Greater Manchester and we were advised met their aspirations. 

“We are eager to see this offer agreed so that colleagues can begin to benefit as quickly as possible from the new rate of pay and an additional lump sum.

"This will help them to manage the economic challenges everyone is facing at this time.

“This would bring an end to delays and protracted discussions about the 2021 settlement and enable us to begin negotiations for the 2022 pay review, the anniversary for which falls in August.   

“Prolonging industrial action and the possibility of further dates in February is not the way forward to finding a resolution. 

“I would like to apologise sincerely to all our customers in advance for the further disruption and inconvenience any continuation of industrial action will cause.” 

Customers with pre-bought tickets for the dates of industrial action will be given a refund or replacement tickets to use for future travel.

Further information can be found on the First Manchester website 

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