YOUR correspondent P Griffiths of Leasowe was given a great deal of space to attack low-paid bus drivers.

Arriva drivers, like millions of other workers, have seen their living standards fall significantly for at least 30 years, as wage increases have not kept pace with food prices, gas and electricity charges, housing costs, council tax rises, and so on.

Those workers are now saying: “Enough is enough.”

Quite rightly, they want a living wage for working a tough, physically and mentally demanding job, that few envy, especially since the catastrophe of privatisation.

If Mr Griffiths thinks “£14 an hour” is a fair wage, then he is either an Arriva company shareholder or else he does not live in the real world. He certainly is not dealing with the daily physical and mental stress of bus-driving.

For doing the vital job they do for the public, bus drivers should be paid at least £40 an hour. This would still leave Arriva with a very healthy, multi-million pounds annual profit. It would also ensure an end to strike action for the foreseeable future.

Mr Griffiths also fails to recognise workers lose all pay for the day or days they go on strike. They can ill-afford to lose this money, especially in the run-up to Christmas, but they feel they have no option confronted with Arriva’s intransigence and tight-fistedness.

Your anti-striker correspondent also has the nerve to invoke the spirit of Christmas against the bus drivers!

Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable on Christmas Day. The son of a carpenter, he gave up his father’s trade and worldly goods to become a preacher Bus drivers are fighting legitimately against poverty wages.

They deserve the support of all UK workers. To paraphrase Jesus: “Blessed are the strikers for they fight for a living wage.”

James Roberts, Wallasey