LEYTONSTONE: Fresh travel misery as bus strikes continue (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

LEYTONSTONE: Fresh travel misery as bus strikes continue

1:18pm Friday 27th November 2009

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ANOTHER 24-hour bus strike began today, affecting services in Leytonstone and leaving commuters facing more travel misery.

Members of the Unite union working for transport company CT Plus walked out today over a 2.25 per cent pay offer.

A 'skeleton service' is said to be running on the W13 route, which stops at Leytonstone Station, while other services in east London have been halted altogether.

Unite spokesman Peter Kavanagh said members 'struggling to get by' on low wages.

Mr Kavanagh said: "CT Plus may pride itself on being a social enterprise and a creator of jobs, but the cold reality is their expansion is being paid for out of the pockets of low-paid bus workers.

"This company cannot expect to get fat on basement-level wages for its workforce, in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and get away with it."

CT Plus' parent company has said the pay offer was generous compared to offers made to most other workers in the capital.

Support for the strike among Unite members is said to be "very good" and the walkout is due to end at 4am tomorrow.

Members of Unite at the East London Bus Group also walked out last week in a 48-hour strike over pay – the second strike in two weeks.

Chief executive of the HCT Group, Dai Powell, in charge of CT Plus, said: “The strike will cause hardship and disruption to people in our communities who rely on our buses to access their livelihoods, their healthcare and other vital services.”

Transport for London has said it was disappointed the strike had gone ahead and expressed regret for disruption.

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