Is £30k a fair wage for a bus driver?
I may be soured by waiting over half an hour for a non-existent Number 67 bus, but I think drivers striking for a £30k pay deal are simply greedy.
A newly qualified teacher in London gets £25k, and will probably have between three and five student loans to pay off. And they don’t have the good fortune of being behind a toughened perspex screen when the customers get violent.
I know who I think deserves more.
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Bus drivers generally seem to be completely unemployable individuals whose daily interaction with obnoxious members of the public has inbued them with a deep and burning hatred of humanity. So not so different from teachers, really.
Comment by bill — 15th September, 2008 @ 2:57 pm
At least one would never describe, say, journalists, in the terms that Bill utters
Comment by Dominic — 16th September, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
I wouldn’t drive a bus for £30k. But then I wouldn’t be a teacher for that, either. The very thought makes me shudder.
Puss
Comment by Glamourpuss — 18th September, 2008 @ 11:44 am
What is this argument that people should put up with crap wages just because other people get crapper wages? I just don’t get it.
Comment by Janine — 20th September, 2008 @ 1:50 pm
Well, for a start, undermining the teaching profession by making it more lucrative to drive a bus is hardly going to do future generations any favours.
Not that I have anything against driving a bus for a living. I just don’t think £30k is the market rate for doing it. If it were, they’d be paid it.
Comment by Ben — 20th September, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
Teachers - and I’m an ex-college principal - have got to be stpid these days if they don’t take the opportunity to become bus drivers. Teachers are little less than administrators of information, bus driving looks more rewarding to me and fun.
And £30k is the market rate - you can’t serious live in London on less.
Comment by a member of the public — 11th October, 2008 @ 11:34 am