BUS drivers in York will receive £8 an hour after a pay deal was struck without union chiefs having to resort to strike action.

Union chiefs at the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) and management at FirstGroup, based at James Street, have agreed the deal which will see some drivers' salaries increase by as much as £1 an hour.

The agreement was reached following detailed meetings between the two sides and has been funded by resolving some productivity issues and from "new money" released by the company.

The increase, which works out at about 6.5 per cent, will avoid the one-day strikes which hit the York network two years ago.

Then, drivers took a series of days of industrial action in an effort to force managers to accede to their demands which, ironically, was £8 an hour.

A compromise was eventually reached, but thousands of commuters stayed away from the city and took an "extended Bank Holiday" during the first day of action in August 2003.

The negotiations on this current deal have been ongoing since the turn of the year, when the Evening Press revealed how drivers were originally looking for £8.50 an hour - or a 13 per cent pay rise. The previous deal, brokered following the 2003 strike, ended in April.

The company then indicated that it expected its salary increases to be in line with inflation, but negotiations over some working practices has released extra cash for drivers' wage packets.

Peter Edwards, First commercial director, said: "We have reached an agreement. Some working conditions have been changed and I am pleased that we have negotiated a deal.

"The drivers voted on our proposals and the majority of them voted to accept.

"It is a one-year deal which will take us up to September next year."

Mr Edwards said although the deal had been agreed, a process of "dotting some I's and crossing some Ts" was still ongoing.

No-one at the Transport and General Workers' Union was available for comment as the Evening Press was published.

Updated: 10:10 Wednesday, August 03, 2005