(Reuters) -Labour union Unite said on Friday workers of Stagecoach Merseyside will go on a strike again, starting July 20, as the British bus operator failed to make an improved pay offer.
About 370 bus workers, who are based at Stagecoach Merseyside's Gilmoss depot, went on a strike on Monday, and plan to hold one-day protests on July 15 and July 18, the union said.
Unite's notice of the strike comes at a time when employees across UK are staging protests demanding better pay as the country faces sky-high inflation.
In an emailed statement on Friday, Stagecoach Merseyside confirmed that the union had blocked the company's offer of joint talks through industrial dispute conciliator ACAS to help deliver a breakthrough in the pay dispute at Gilmoss depot.
"ACAS is ready and willing to support joint talks, but it is deeply frustrating that Unite has firmly blocked our olive branch," Matt Davies, managing director of Stagecoach Merseyside said.
The company, which operates bus services through Merseyside, Cheshire South Lancashire and parts of Greater Manchester, also urged Unite to suspend the planned strikes and accept the offer to work with ACAS.