A BUS privateer was accused today of using the taxpayer-funded furlough scheme to pay staff who have been laid off while its drivers are on strike against wage cuts.

Four hundred drivers at Go North West in Manchester are involved in a dispute over the firm’s plan to fire and rehire them on new contracts requiring longer hours for lower wages.

The drivers at the Queens Road depot have responded by launching an indefinite campaign of strike action.

Other workers at the depot who are not on strike, such as cleaners, have been laid off. 

Unite says the company is using the taxpayer-funded furlough scheme to pay their wages.

The union’s north-west regional secretary Ritchie James said: “It is a disgrace that Go North West are using taxpayers’ money to furlough workers to try to undermine a lawful strike.

“Unite has contacted HM Revenue and Customs to question the legality of Go North West’s actions, which are corrupting the furlough scheme. 

“If it is not illegal, it should be and it is most certainly immoral.”

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “Fire and rehire is ripping through our workplaces like a disease. 

“Weak law lets bad bosses force through brutal changes to contracts, sometimes taking thousands of pounds off wages that families need to get by.

“It’s a disgraceful practice that’s outlawed in much of Europe and should be here.

“Unite is fighting for UK workers to be treated with the same decency. We won’t stop until the law is changed to protect working people from attack.”

Go North West, part of the multibillion-pound Go Ahead transport corporation, was approached for comment.