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Construction at the 2012 Olympic Park is being hit by bus strikes, transport unions claim. There are reports workers are struggling to get around 500 acre site after the Unite Union carried out a threatened 24 hour stoppage. Unite claim striking drivers who transport construction workers across the Olympic site have affected services - however, the PR company representing the bus firm say this is not true. They said in a statement: "HCT Group, as part of a joint venture with fellow social enterprise ECT Group,
does operate a contract transporting construction workers around the Olympic
Park but this has nothing to do with today's strike action and is not affected
in any way." Four routes have been effected in the pay row - 150 drivers, engineers and administration staff walked out at 4.00am this morning. Support for the industrial action has been 'solid', routes have been pulled and a 'skeleton service' deployed on others, according to the union. CT Plus said it was "extremely disappointed" at the strike, that the pay offer was "very generous" in the "current economic climate" and claim that "only around a quarter" of the workforce actually voted in favour of strike action. The bus firm have offered staff a pay rise offer of 2.25% - Unite spokesman Peter Kavanagh said its members "are on low wages to begin with and are fed up struggling to get by". Unite said the strike would affect bus routes 153, 388, 394 and W13. Expansion "built on the backs of low wage culture" CT Plus, part of the HCT Group, is a social enterprise transport group who are "winning new contracts on the back of a low wage culture", according to the union. Travel services including Olympic Park worker transport, the Richard Cloudesley Islington School Buses and the scooter hire service in Camden will also be affected. Mr Kavanagh said: "CT Plus may pride itself on being a social enterprise and a creator of jobs but the cold reality is their expansion if being paid for out of the pockets of low-paid bus workers. "This company cannot expect to get fat on basement level wages for its workforce, in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and get away with it." Last week members of Unite working at East London Bus Group staged a 48-hour strike over pay. * Routes 153 and 388 have been halted while "a skeleton service" has been running on buses 394 and W13.
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