Kelvin staff vote to accept pay cuts
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• Staff at Kelvin Central which is up for sale in the Scottish Bus Group privatisation, have balloted to accept pay cuts in the event of a successful employee/management bid.
More than 85% of the 1,181 staff who voted agreed to cuts of up to 6% with a driver's flat rate of £4 per hour. Staff also agreed to contribute £300 each to the company's equity.
Managing director Ian Blundell said in a letter to staff that the proposals would involve personal sacrifice, but warned that this was "the only viable solution to our present prob lems". Kelvin Central, which is based in the Glasgow area, has been running at a substantial loss for some time, and the wage-cuts would save the company 2m per year.
Union officials say that these cuts would only apply to the employee/management bid, and not to any outside bidders. A similar condition was attached to Bluebird Northern staffs offer of a pay freeze in support of an SBG buyout (CM 25-31 October).
The Lanarkshire area of what is now Kelvin Central suffered 14 weeks of strike action last year, which was followed by substantial service cuts and depot closures.
Strathtay Scottish goes on the market this week. It is the seventh company to be put on the market in the SBG privatisation. The 167-bus Dundeebased company has 440 staff working from seven depots in the Tayside Region. In 1989 Strathtay carried over 12m passengers, and made a loss of Lim on a £10m turnover.