MORE than 3,000 National Express bus drivers and about 250 office staff will be balloted for strikes over take-home pay cuts, their union Unite announced yesterday.

If the workers, who run local buses across the West Midlands, back walkouts in the vote, they will join about 200 of the firm’s engineers who have already voted for strikes. 

Despite registering £300 million in profits in 2021, the company has offered its drivers in the region a below-inflation 8 per cent wage boost, according to the union.

Admin staff are yet to receive a proposal, while engineers have been offered 10 per cent, less than crippling RPI inflation rates of 13.4 per cent, it added. 

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “National Express brings in huge amounts of money while its workers are struggling — it can afford to pay a decent wage.”

Should the ballot — open between February 8 and March — be successful, walkouts could hit services across Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry. 

A company spokesperson claimed that its “fair and reasonable” wage offer for drivers actually amounts to an average of 14 per cent.