No council money for bus dispute

WARRINGTON Borough Council has no money to help the town’s bus company in its pay dispute with its staff.
This has been made clear by council leader Terry O’Neill in a statement made as the dispute looks set to escalate from a series of one-day stoppages to a three day strike.
Cllr O’Neill (pictured) said he was disappointed by the continuing industrial action at the independent Network Warrington.
He said: “It is very disappointing that the industrial action at Network Warrington is set to continue.
“The independent board of the company and ACAS have worked hard to present fair proposals to the workforce in the context of the company’s deteriorating financial situation.
“The board of Network Warrington is entirely independent from Warrington Borough Council and regrettably the council has its own financial pressures and will not be able to financially assist the company regarding the industrial action dispute.”
There have been three recent one-day strikes at Network Warrington, on Sunday September 29, Monday October 7 and Tuesday October 15.
Additional one-day strikes scheduled for October 23 and 31 were suspended pending negotiations, but the negotiations have broken down and it is now understood that a three day strike is planned for November 13, 14 and 15.
Network Warrington say they have offered to take the matter to an independent arbitration and abide by the outcome but that the bus workers union, Unite have rejected the offer.