Are bus strikes in Greater Manchester likely to become a recurring problem for Andy Burnham?

 

In my entire life I have never known a situation where we had no bus services in Greater Manchester for three or four continuous days. Even when there were bus strikes, which was a rarity, there was always an alternative bus service.

If the bus strike in Greater Manchester goes ahead on the 19th September, it will largely affect people who rely on public transport because they don't drive or have access to a car. It will impact mostly on the elderly, people with disabilities, and those on low incomes. These people will have three options: stay at home for three days, Shanks's pony or get a taxi. You had better make sure you've got plenty of shopping in before next Friday.

How does a situation like this, get people out of cars, and using buses, because they're told it's more environmentally friendly? Only a bloody fool would give up their car to use public transport as bad as this in Labour controlled Greater Manchester. We're now in a situation where bus services in Greater Manchester, are under public control, but Andy Burnham and TfGM don't have any control over the bus drivers or their pay and conditions because they don't employ the drivers who are employed by private bus companies like First and Stagecoach.

I don't blame the drivers for trying to get an increase in their pay because they know they're in a powerful position, because there's now only one bus service in Greater Manchester and that is the Bee Network. If you can't get a Bee Network bus you're fucked. Sharon Graham and Unite the Union know they've got us all by the bollocks, so I am amazed that this dispute over pay, hasn't been settled long ago. The bus operators will probably use this situation as leverage to squeeze more money out of TfGM.

Bus strikes are likely to be a recurring problem for Andy Burnham and TfGM. No doubt Burnham will tell us that his hands are tied and there's little he can do under the circumstances. But if he can't keep the buses on the road, how can he expect to run a country when he replaces Keir Starmer as the Leader of the Labour Party and becomes the next British prime minister?