Over 600 drivers from First West of England’s City Line will walk out for two weeks while a demonstration will take place in Bristol.

The city is set to be brought to a standstill next month as over 600 drivers at First West of England’s City Line have voted to take two weeks of fresh strike action. The drivers, members of Unite, are currently undertaking a four-day strike over pay.

After talks broke down between First West of England, part of First Bus, and the union, workers from the affected depots, Lawrence Hill and Hengrove, will now be walking out from 1 to 14 October. Given the number of drivers involved and the length of the second wave of strikes, this will be extremely disruptive with many cancellations and delays to services expected.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 

“First Bus is a very profitable firm, but its hardworking workers are struggling to pay the bills – the situation is deplorable and it is little wonder they have voted to take further industrial action.

“This dispute has been entirely the fault of the employer who has put profits over people throughout. We will support the affected members every step of the way throughout this dispute.”

Today workers from both depots have come together in a demo at Broad Quay near the Hippodrome in Bristol.

One worker said: “I am paying over half of my wages on rent alone and have absolutely no savings. I can’t even afford to pay into my pension because it’s just costing me so much to live in Bristol. All I want is a wage rise that reflects the real world.

“The company has to work with us drivers. We do a really hard job, we face a lot of dangers and we have to protect our passengers so we’re constantly on high alert. We also get abused from time to time and we don’t get supported in that.”

Unite has offered to meet First West of England for further negotiations, but it has refused to negotiate with Unite and has also refused support from the conciliation service Acas.

The strikes which began on Tuesday have already caused travel chaos, with many services not running. This has impacted freshers’ week in the city and is set to cause travel chaos for those travelling to the semi-finals of the Women’s Rugby World Cup at Ashton Gate today.

Unite regional officer Amy Roberts said: 

“Unite has attempted to negotiate with First West of England in good faith, but it has been unwilling to come back to the table. We appreciate the strikes have been very disruptive, especially for those making essential journeys, but drivers have felt no choice but to extend the industrial action given the way they have been treated by First West of England.

“These workers do a difficult, essential job and deserve to be paid fairly. First West of England has a chance to stop further disruption, but must come back to the table with a fair offer to do so.”