The 2021 Go North West strike was a

labour strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became co ...

involving

bus driver A bus driver, bus operator, or bus captain is a person who drives buses for a living. Description Bus drivers must have a special license above and beyond a regular driver's licence. Bus drivers typically drive their vehicles between bus st ...

s working for

Go North West Go North West is a bus operator in Greater Manchester, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group, operating franchised Bee Network bus services on contract to Transport for Greater Manchester. History Go North West commenced operat ...

, a

bus operator A bus driver, bus operator, or bus captain is a person who drives buses for a living. Description Bus drivers must have a special license above and beyond a regular driver's licence. Bus drivers typically drive their vehicles between bus stat ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, that lasted from 28 February to 18 May. The strike involved approximately 500 drivers unionised with

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a trade union in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus (trade union), Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union. A general union ...

and was caused by disagreements over the labour contracts between the company and employees. Starting in March 2020, Go North West began negotiating new working arrangements with Unite with the goal of cutting costs for their Queens Road bus depot. While the union and company negotiated through 2020, neither side could come to an agreement. In August, Go North West began directly negotiating with drivers one-on-one, with Unite alleging that the company was pushing employees into accepting deals that would lower the workers' salaries. In addition, the union accused the company of firing drivers and then rehiring them under less favourable contracts. Following protests against this in September, the union and company restarted negotiations, and in December, the union made their final offer to the company with an agreement that would have seen approximately £1.2 million in annual savings. However, the company rejected this offer, instead aiming to cut approximately £1.8 million. Negotiations ended in January 2021, after which Unite began to prepare for possible

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

against the company. On 9 February, drivers voted in favour of striking, which began on 28 February. From the beginning of the strike, the drivers had support from numerous local activist and trade union groups, such as the Manchester Trades Union Council and the People's Assembly. Discussions between the union and company were held in late March, but ended without an agreement, and the strike continued for several more weeks. During this time, Unite also headed a leverage campaign against the

Go-Ahead Group Go-Ahead Group Limited is a Multinational corporation, multi-national transport group based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. While the majority of its operations are within Great Britain, it also operates services in Ireland, Australia, Singapo ...

(Go North West's

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

), targeting shareholders of the group and soliciting support from several national and international trade union groups. By early May, following several days of discussions between Unite and Go North West, the two came to a formal agreement that was subsequently put to a vote amongst union members. Among the provisions of the deal, the company agreed not to employ any "fire and rehire" practices, with additional provisions including a wage increase and protections to

sick pay Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because ...

. Strikers voted to accept the deal on 17 May, with the strike ending the next day. In total, the strike lasted almost two and a half months, making it the longest strike in Unite history and one of the longest strikes in British transportation history.

Background

Go North West

In early 2019,

First Greater Manchester First Greater Manchester is a bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, operating franchised Bee Network bus services on contract to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). The operator was once dominant in the n ...

, a

bus company A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used i ...

subsidiary of British transportation group

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.bus depot in

Cheetham, Manchester Cheetham is an inner-city area and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary ...

, to the

, which would operate the depot under its new subsidiary

. At the time, Go-Ahead was one of the largest transportation groups in the United Kingdom and the largest bus operator in London, with additional bus operations throughout England. The acquisition of the Queens Road depot marked the company's first entry into Manchester. As part of the £11.17 million purchase, Go-Ahead also took ownership of the 163 vehicles that were operating out of the depot, with former FirstGroup employees at Queens Road retained as Go-Ahead employees.

Hostilities between union and company

On 11 August 2020,

, the

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing workers at the depot, claimed that Go North West had a "bullying culture" and that management was attempting to push a wage reduction of £2,000 per year onto about 500 bus drivers. According to the union, management was offering drivers a £5,000 single-time bonus to alter their employment contracts with stipulations that would have included the wage decrease. In addition, Unite stated that the new agreements contained changes to both

sick leave Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because ...

and workhours. The union referred to the move by management as "an odious sleight of hand" and also alleged that management was using the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

as a "smokescreen" for their actions. At the time, union representatives stated that they were going to look into possible actions, including a consultative ballot for

at the depot. Unite also claimed that Go North West was attempting to make these changes while 80 per cent of the drivers, including all but one of their

union representative A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...

s, were on

furlough A furlough (; from , "leave of absence") is a temporary cessation of paid employment that is intended to address the special needs of a company or employer; these needs may be due to economic conditions that affect a specific employer, or to thos ...

. In an article published by local

independent media Independent media refers to any media (communication), media, such as television, newspapers, or Internet-based publications free of influence by government or corporate interests. The term has varied applications. Independence stands as a corne ...

newspaper ''The Meteor'' that same month, a representative for Go North West stated that the company had been trying to negotiate new working arrangements with Unite since March 2020, further stating, "These changes are long overdue, are necessary to enable the company to regain profitability, and would bring the depot into line with commonly accepted working practices elsewhere in the bus sector." The company further stated that the changed would keep all current driving jobs at the station and not result in any changes to take home pay or weekly hours worked. According to Unite, the company gave a deadline of 12 August for accepting the terms of the new employment agreements. However, after labour negotiations between management and union representatives broke down that day, the union began making preparations for the consultative ballot. Following this, Unite accused Go North West of suspending the senior union representative at Queens Road (the chair of that

union branch The Union Branch is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Toms River in Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden ...

and the only representative who was not currently furloughed) for conducting union activities, with a Unite official later stating that the "allegation against the Unite senior rep was totally without merit and his suspension was an attempt to undermine Unite from representing the legitimate interests of its members". Go North West countered that the representative had been suspended due to a serious complaint lodged by a bus driver against him. Following the suspension, Unite announced that the consultative ballot would be held by the end of the month. On 14 August, Go North West sent Unite a Section 188 notice, which would allow the company to end drivers' contracts and renegotiate new terms, which the union criticized as a "fire and rehire" scenario. While the union criticized the company for attempting to cut wages while having made millions in profits the previous year, a company representative stated, "The alternatives entail making redundancies, cuts to services and having unhappy employees on our hands … Without these changes, the Go North West business and its operation of bus services from Queen's Road depot, is not viable and ultimately, the business will have to close." Results from the consultative ballot showed that 94 per cent of respondents were in favour of taking industrial action against Go North West. On 9 September, protestors outside the Queens Road depot caused a disruption in bus services, and additional protesting followed the next day, with police called on the protestors on both days. According to the ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

'', the protestors were not organized by trade unions, but were local activists displaying solidarity with Unite the Union. Following the second day of protests, Greater Manchester Mayor

Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 Greater Manchester mayoral election, 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Brown ministry, Cabinet as Chief Secretary to th ...

indicated that he would intervene. On 11 September, about 20 activists from various local

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

groups were able to block buses from leaving the depot. While these protests were occurring, Unite the Union General Secretary

Len McCluskey Leonard David McCluskey (born 23 July 1950) is a British trade unionist. He was General Secretary of Unite the Union, the largest affiliate and a major donor to the Labour Party. As a young adult, he spent some years working in the Liverpool D ...

sent a letter to Go-Ahead Group

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

David Brown stating that industrial action was likely if negotiations did not continue and the Section 188 notice was withdrawn. Following this, on 24 September, Go North West and Unite entered into negotiations. Negotiations between the union and the company lasted for several months until on 21 December, Unite submitted a "final offer" to the company that would have included a £1 million in cost reductions and a one-year pay freeze that would have amounted to £200,000 in savings. However, Go North West rejected these terms as not substantial enough. By comparison, Go North West had been aiming to cut £1.8 million in company costs. On 12 January 2021, the union contacted Go North West's

to request that they support talks between Go North West and Unite. However, on 16 January, Go North West officially ended their negotiations with Unite. In total, over 38 meetings were held between the company and the union between March 2020 and January 2021.

Union members vote to strike

Following the end of negotiations, Go North West began to directly consult with drivers, with the union alleging that the company was illegally requiring drivers to attend these consultations without union representation. With Go North West's withdrawal from negotiations, Unite began preparing another consultative ballot for industrial action. The vote on whether or not to perform

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Working class, work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Str ...

was expected to be finalized by 9 February. By that time, a report from Unite indicated that the vote had a 77 per cent turnout with 82 per cent voting in favor of strike action. In a response, Go North West defended their consultations with employees and stated that over 80 per cent of the drivers had voluntarily signed the new contracts. The union later announced that a strike would commence on 28 February. On the day the strike was set to begin, Unite wrote to Mayor Burnham requesting him to become involved after they discovered that buses that were to be used during the strike did not have shields to protect the drivers from COVID-19 exposure.

Course of the strike

Early strike activities

The strike commenced on 28 February, with approximately 400 drivers performing a walkout. All of Go North West's 16 bus routes in the Greater Manchester area were affected, but soon after the start of the strike, the company stated that they were operating at full service by sub-contracting to smaller bus operators. Additionally, they claimed that about 100 drivers had crossed the picket line and returned to work. Unite criticized Go North West's use of non-union drivers and operators and labeled the company a "rogue bus service". The Manchester strike coincided with an unrelated strike by Unite-affiliated bus drivers in

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

working for several subsidiaries of the

RATP Group The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (Établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial, EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under th ...

. On 2 March, the ''Manchester Evening News'' reported that numerous politicians from the Labour Party were in support of the strike, including Afzal Khan and

Rebecca Long-Bailey Rebecca Roseanne Long-Bailey (' Long; born 22 September 1979) is a British Labour Party politician and solicitor who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford, previously Salford and Eccles, since 2015. She served in the Shadow Cabinet ...

, Members of Parliament from

Manchester Gorton Manchester Gorton was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It was the safest Labour seat in Greater Manchester by numerical majority and one of the safest in the country. Manchester Gorton was abolished for ...

and Salford and Eccles, respectively. Additionally, the Manchester Trades Union Council voiced their support for the strikers. Also on 2 March, Mayor Burnham, after speaking to both union and company, announced that he was facilitating a process where the two could enter into

non-binding arbitration Non-binding arbitration is a type of arbitration in which the arbitrator makes a determination of the rights of the parties to the dispute, but this determination is not binding upon them, and no enforceable arbitration award is issued. The "awa ...

through

Acas The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) is a non-departmental public body of the Her Majesty's Government, Government of the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to improve organisations and working life through the promotion and fa ...

, a

conciliation Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute rely on a neutral third-party known as the conciliator, to assist them in solving their dispute. The conciliator, who may meet with the parties both sep ...

service. By 5 March, a company representative stated that they had attended meetings with Acas and that they were willing to open discussions with the union. That same day, in an article from ''

The Bolton News ''The Bolton News'' – formerly the ''Bolton Evening News'' – is a daily newspaper and news website covering the towns of Bolton and Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury in north-western England. Published each morning from Monday to Saturday and o ...

'', the union accused Go North West of violating health and safety standards regarding COVID-19 protection by operating their buses at higher capacities than pandemic restrictions would allow. In response, a company representative stated that "Covid-19 compliance is an absolute priority" for the company. In early March, Unite members from the

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

facility in

Barnoldswick Barnoldswick (pronounced ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle, Lancashire, England. It lies within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic West Riding of Yorkshire, West Ri ...

, who had recently been involved in a strike of their own, joined with drivers to picket in solidarity outside the Queens Road depot. They also donated £500 to the drivers'

strike fund Strike pay is a payment made by a trade union to workers who are on strike to help in meeting their basic needs while on strike, often out of a special reserve known as a ''strike fund''. Union workers reason that the availability of strike pay in ...

. On the same day, Peter Clifford, the

Communist League The Communist League ( German: ''Bund der Kommunisten)'' was an international political party established on 1 June 1847 in London, England. The organisation was formed through the merger of the League of the Just, headed by Karl Schapper, and th ...

's candidate in the 2021 Greater Manchester mayoral election, visited the picket line.

Discussions break down and strike continues

On 1 April, following 12 days of negotiations between the union and company facilitated by Acas, neither side could come to an agreement that would have ended the strike, and as a result, negotiations were halted. During the discussions, Unite proposed changes that would have saved £1.3 million in expenses per year, but Go North West deemed these savings too small. Also during the discussions, Unite charged that Go North West was threatening to shut down the Queens Road depot if the union did not accept the company's cost-cutting. Go North West countered that Unite was making "wild claims

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

bear no resemblance whatsoever to the facts" and claimed that a third of the drivers had already crossed the picket line and returned to work. On 7 April, Mayor Burnham visited the picket line and criticized the company "fire and rehire" tactics, stating, "We will not allow franchising of our buses to be a race to the bottom when it comes to people's terms and conditions". Meanwhile, in mid-April, Unite called on

London Mayor The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...

to outlaw "fire and rehire" contracts in the city's bus operating services in order to prevent similar labour issues to what was happening in Manchester. On 17 April, picketing drivers were joined by over 100 members of other community groups, such as the

National Education Union The National Education Union (NEU) is a trade union in the United Kingdom for school teachers, further education lecturers, education support staff and teaching assistants. It was formed by the amalgamation of the National Union of Teachers ...

, in a show of support for the strike. The following day, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' published an article that discussed Go-Ahead as one of many companies accused of using "fire and rehire" practices during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust provides adult district general hospital services for Birmingham as well as specialist treatments for the West Midlands (region), West Midlands. The trust operates the Queen Elizabeth H ...

, and

Compass Group Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in Europe, ahead of Sodexo, employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in location ...

-subsidiary ESS, among others. The article also contained a statement from

Frances O'Grady Frances Lorraine Maria O'Grady, Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (born 9 November 1959), is a British former trade unionist leader, who served as the General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) from 2013 to 2022, being the fir ...

, the

General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress The General Secretary of the TUC is the chief permanent officer of the Trades Union Congress, and a major figurehead in the trade union movement in the United Kingdom. The Secretary is responsible for the effective operation of the TUC and for lead ...

, who said that almost one of every ten British workers had been affected by "fire and rehire" practices during the pandemic. On 20 April, BBC News published an article discussing how Go North West had logged 38 separate incidents of strikers intimidating, assaulting, and attacking non-striking employees since the start of the strike. Unite denied these incidents, stating they had no record of strikers being involved in any such incidents and that the union would take action against any striker who was found to have been involved. On 3 May, the striking drivers led the

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

march in Manchester, which ran from

Piccadilly Gardens Piccadilly Gardens is a green space in Manchester city centre, England, on the edge of the Northern Quarter. It takes its name from the adjacent street, Piccadilly, which runs across the city centre from Market Street to London Road. The ga ...

to the picket line at the depot. At an earlier May Day rally, a representative of Unite said in a speech that the union was conducting a "leverage operation" (also referred to as a "leverage campaign") that targeted the Go-Ahead Group's operations throughout the United Kingdom. In addition to pushing for the mayors of London and Manchester to outlaw "fire and rehire", this leverage operation also targeted shareholders and people who held a financial stake in the Go-Ahead Group. On an international level, Unite garnered support from several trade unions and reached out to politicians and unions in places such as

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, where the Go-Ahead Group was trying to expand its operations. According to a Unite official, the union's communications with Members of Swedish Parliament (where "fire and rehire" is illegal) led to that country reconsidering a proposed railway contract with Go-Ahead.

End of the strike

By early May, the union and company had come to a tentative agreement that would have seen an end to the strike. The deal, as reported in the ''Manchester Evening News'' on 6 May, would have seen improvements to sick pay and a new

collective agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with a ...

between Unite and Go North West. In addition, Go North West agreed to not employ any "fire and rehire" practices. The agreement followed what a Go North West representative described as "an intensive summit meeting" in London that had lasted two days, from 26 to 27 April, and had been attended by Unite General Secretary McCluskey and Go-Ahead CEO Brown. While a formal agreement between the two groups had been reached, Unite representatives clarified that " deal is still to be finalised and therefore no ballot of members has been arranged". On 17 May, a vote was held among union members on whether or not to accept the agreement and end the strike. After the proposed agreement was reviewed by the strike committee and put to vote, approximately 83.5 per cent voted in favor accepting the deal. The following day marked the last day of the strike, and at noon on 18 May, union officials met with management to organize the strikers' return to work.

Bus Operators covering during the strike

During the industrial action, Go North West contracted with a number of bus operators to cover services, with the Manchester free bus being operated completely by Go North West, Service 100 being operated by The Travellers Choice and Edwards Coaches, Service 17 and 18 being covered by operators such as Selwyns Travel, Red Routemaster and Tyrers Coaches, services 97/98 to Bury being covered by operators such as

Midland Classic Diamond East Midlands, formerly Midland Classic, is a bus company from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Since August 2022, the company is a subsidiary of Rotala. History Midland Classic Midland Classic was founded in July 2005 by Ja ...

York Pullman York Pullman is a bus operating company based in Rufforth, North Yorkshire, England. The first company to use the Pullman name was founded in 1926 by Norman Pearce and Hartas Foxton. The Yorkshire Pullman remained in use until the company was d ...

and

Connexionsbuses Harrogate Coach Travel operates local and regional bus services in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, England. History Harrogate Coach Travel was established in February 2002 by Craig and Julie Temple. Initially, the company operated local bu ...

as well as Selywns Travel and operators such as Orion Travel and MP Travel operating services 41 and 135.

Aftermath

Among the provisions of the deal, Go North West guaranteed not to use any "fire and rehire" practices. Additionally, sick pay was reduced, but kept in place, while the workers would receive a 2 per cent annual pay raise for both 2021 and 2022, in addition to a one-time £1,500 payment. Seniority with respect to scheduling was also reinstated, as this had been an issue early on in contract negotiations where some employees were being given more favorable shifts than employees who had worked there longer. The strike was generally seen as a success for the union. In an interview with ''The Meteor'', several drivers expressed satisfaction at the results of the strike, especially the guarantee against "fire and rehire". One driver said, "It was never about money. It was about fire and rehire. We were on strike for terms and conditions. I think the general public understood that." Speaking to ''

The Militant ''The Militant'' is a socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the Pathfinder Press. It is published in the United States and distributed in other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Franc ...

'', one former striker stated that the strike "was most definitely an achievement". Lasting over two months, the strike was the longest in the history of Unite the Union. According to a representative for the Manchester Trades Union Council, it was the longest bus strike in British history, while the magazine ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'' called it "the longest in recent history for the entire passenger transport sector".