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Go North East bus strikes: Workers to vote on 'milestone' pay offer as indefinite walkout looms; Go North East workers will vote on a new pay deal put forward by the company, ahead of a continuous walkout that is due to begin this Saturday.

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Byline: By, Daniel Holland

Bus workers are set to vote on a new pay offer aimed at averting an indefinite strike at one of the North East's biggest public transport operators.

Go North East announced on Wednesday that it has tabled what it calls a "milestone" offer to try to end a bitter industrial dispute that has caused massive disruption for passengers over recent weeks. Members of the Unite union have already staged two week-long walkouts that have brought bus services around the region to a halt and are due to begin a continuous strike starting this Saturday, October 28.

The bus company announced it has now offered a 10.3% rise that would see drivers paid £14.15 an hour, alongside a guaranteed above-inflation pay increase next year too, which the operator says would make its drivers the best-remunerated in the region. Unite confirmed that it will now ballot its 1,300-plus members at Go North East on whether to accept the new deal.

The union has complained that the average wage for a Go North East driver is just £12.83 per hour, compared to £15.53 for drivers at Go North West -- a rate that the company's new offer still does not match. The union's ballot will close at 12 noon on Friday, just 12 hours before the indefinite strike action involving drivers, engineers, maintenance workers and depot crews is due to begin.

Go North East's business director Ben Maxfield said: "An end to strike action would bring a huge sense of relief. Staff have been worried sick about the damage a 12-week stoppage will cause, and passengers face massive and unnecessary disruption to their daily lives.

"We have spent a lot of time listening to...

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