MORE than 2,000 London bus drivers will strike next week against attacks on pay at three subsidiaries of French-owned transport giant RATP.

The Unite union accused the company today of using the Covid crisis as “a convenient smokescreen” for pay policies that could cost some drivers as much as £2,500 a year.

Workers at London United, which provides bus services in south and west London, will walk out for three days from Monday against cuts that would see pay reduced to 2015 levels.

Drivers at Quality Line in Epsom, Surrey, already paid £2.50 an hour less than colleagues at other RATP subsidiaries, will strike on Monday and Tuesday in their dispute over a “derisory” pay offer of 0.5 per cent — just 7p per hour.

And Unite members at London Sovereign in north-west London will stop work on Monday and on March 3 against a pay offer of 0.75 per cent — way below that offered by other operators in the capital.

Unite regional officer Michelle Braveboy said: “Our members have no option other than to fight back against these attacks, while recognising the disruption caused.”