Where: Stagecoach Sunderland Depot, North Bridge Street, Sunderland, SR5 1AQ 

When: 11 – 15 October, 3:30am – 7:30 pm 

On Wednesday 12 October at 8am, South Sheilds MP Emma Lewell-Buck, GMB General Secretary Gary Smith and GMB Regional Secretary Hazel Nolan will join the picket line 

Almost 200 Stagecoach bus drivers in Sunderland will go on strike today [Tuesday 11 October 2022] 

The industrial action comes after a ballot which saw 97 per cent of GMB members vote for industrial action on an 83 per cent turnout. 

Workers are angry after being offered a massive real terms pay cut of just 4 per cent, with 2 per cent to follow later in the year. 

Stuart Gilhespy, GMB Organiser, said: 

“Sunderland bus drivers feel Stagecoach management are operating from some distant planet. 

“They are acting as though there is no cost-of-living crisis and no inflation. 

"Bosses seem happy to short-change Sunderland’s travelling public and GMB’s hard-working members, who have frankly put their lives on the line for Stagecoach over the last few years.”