Sacked KMB Drivers Formally Reinstated

Four KMB bus drivers who took part in a strike in late February have been formally reinstated at work, including the protest's organiser, Yip Wai-lam.

A KMB appeal committee handling their cases, however, issued them with warnings, saying they had seriously violated the firm's guidelines, affected road safety, and caused inconvenience to passengers.

The drivers had stopped their vehicles at the exit of a bus terminus in Tsim Sha Tsui. They accused the company of failing to properly consult drivers before introducing a new pay package.

The strike action on February 24 came after a major crash in Tai Po earlier that month, in which 19 people died.

KMB fired the four in early March. Yip's group, the Monthly-Paid Bus Drivers' Alliance, then staged a rally along with pro-democracy political parties at a bus depot in Lai Chi Kok opposing the sackings. The company subsequently suspended the dismissals pending the appeals.