Bus drivers are due to go on strike in Brighton and Crawley next month in a battle for better pay after a ballot of members by their union, Unite.
The strike, which will affect services to and from Gatwick airport, is planned for two dates – Monday 6 October and Wednesday 15 October.
Drivers working for Brighton and Hove Buses and Metrobus voted to reject a 3.5 per cent pay rise, saying that it amounted to a real-terms pay cut.
More than 1,200 members of the Unite union working across the two companies, both owned by the Go Ahead group, were balloted for strike action last month.
Unite said that this was about 80 per cent to 85 per cent of the workforce – and that more than 90 per cent of those who were balloted voted yes.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is an insulting pay offer. Our members aren’t asking for a king’s ransom.”
She said that they were being asked to accept a real-terms pay cut while the parent companies made millions and siphoned off money to overseas shareholders.
She added: “Our members have Unite’s unwavering support in their campaign for a fair pay deal.”
Unite regional officer Janet Nobbs said: “Our members do an incredibly stressful job, driving at all times of day and night, in all weathers throughout the year.
“They keep Brighton and Crawley’s workers and students moving. Yet the company has seen fit to try to impose a real-terms pay cut which is simply unacceptable.
“Unless the company comes back to the table with a dramatically improved offer our members will have been left with no option but to take strike action.
“The bus company has brought this on themselves with their penny-pinching approach to workforce relations.”
Ed Wills, the managing director of Brighton and Hove Buses and Metrobus, told the BBC that two pay increases had been offered since July.
Mr Wills said that, in the most recent negotiation, the company had offered a 4.6 per cent pay increase, alongside back pay of 5 per cent to the start of July.
He added: “This is higher or equal to all current measures of inflation. We are keen to ensure our team receive a pay increase this year.
“This 4.6 per cent offer would equate to a 33.5 per cent increase in our driver rates over four years.
“Currently drivers earn on average £36,000 in Brighton and Hove and £38,000 in Crawley after six weeks and before this latest offer is applied.”
