Huddersfield-based First West Yorkshire drivers strike after rejecting pay deal

Around 170 Huddersfield-based bus drivers employed by First West Yorkshire will strike in February and March, voicing irritation at allegedly having waited 10 months to achieve pay parity with fellow employees.

The drivers rejected a pay deal from First West Yorkshire that would see pay rise to £15.43 an hour from April 2025, following incremental pay rises during 2024.  

Unite argued that wages for the firm’s drivers in other parts of West Yorkshire reached over £15 an hour in mid-2024, as did wages for drivers at competitor bus companies operating in Huddersfield.

The rejected offer also ties the workers into a pay agreement beginning in April 2024 and ending in October 2026, which will once again result in their wages lagging behind that of their colleagues.   

Sharon Graham, general secretary at Unite said: “First is a hugely profitable company.

“Yet it thinks it’s OK to significantly underpay these drivers for nearly a year while also tying them into an overlong agreement that will result in wages rates sliding again. This is totally unacceptable.

“Unite will not flinch in its support of our First West Yorkshire Huddersfield members as they strike for a fair pay deal.”

The workers will strike from 3rd to 16th February and from 24th February to 9th March, with plans for industrial action to intensify if the dispute is not resolved.