London bus workers vote to strike

LONDON bus workers have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in a dispute over London's bus operators' refusal to recognise the massive increase in workload for their workers during the Olympic Games.

 Members of Unite working for 21 London bus operators, including Go Ahead, Stagecoach, London United, Arriva, Metroline, First and Abelio backed strike action by an average of 94 per cent.

 Turnouts across the operators averaged 38 per cent (the same percentage turnout that saw Boris Johnson re-elected as mayor of London).

 The giant union Unite is now giving the bus companies a final opportunity to consider this landslide result in favour of strike action before the union announces possible strike dates early next week.

 Bus workers are the only London transport workers not receiving an award for their extra effort during the Olympic Games.

 A recent survey of almost 3,000 London transport passengers conducted by independent researchers for Unite, revealed hat almost nine out of ten back bus workers' call for an Olympic payment.

At least 800,000 extra passengers are predicted to use London's iconic red buses during the Olympics.