Abellio bus drivers in London are persevering with their struggle for an above inflation pay improve and enhancements to interrupt instances, restoration durations between shifts and extra time charges.
Strike motion started November 22, with 10 days of rolling strikes as much as December 17 by round 1,000 members of Unite at six garages in South and West London—Battersea, Beddington, Hayes, Southall, Twickenham and Walworth garages.
Beddington Cross bus storage picket [Photo: courtesy of Beddington driver]
An additional spherical of 11 days of strikes had been introduced throughout the Christmas and New 12 months interval, with stoppages on December 24, 27, 31 and January 4, 5, 10, 12, 16, 19, 25 and 26.
There have been mass turnouts on the picket, with drivers in a buoyant and decided temper. They defined to the WSWS they had been now not ready to compensate for low pay by working as much as 60 hours every week with extra time, or to just accept punishing schedules depriving them of any work-life stability.
Abellio is pleading poverty after it made €401 million revenue in 2021 with Managing Director Alex Hynes pocketing almost £335,000 a yr. Abellio’s UK workforce is round 14,500 together with its rail concessions, West Midland Trains, East Midland Railway and Better Anglia, which have been on the centre of the nationwide rail strikes towards an prolonged pay freeze and restructuring of phrases and situations.
A unified counteroffensive throughout the transport community has been prevented by Unite and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union. The RMT hailed a 7 % pay rise at Merseyrail in June, which Abellio runs as a three way partnership with Serco. Unite has taken separate motion at Abellio East Midlands by round 140 members, together with technicians, shunters, engineers and cleaners at depots in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. They’ve taken eight days of strike motion since October with a two-day stoppage on December 23/24 as the corporate refuses to make any supply.
Abellio refused to start negotiations for the London bus drivers pay award till November and has solely come again with sub-standard presents since. The corporate introduced it should impose its ultimate supply by December 31. A pay award of 12 % is for newer drivers and covers a interval of as much as two years, bringing their fundamental hourly charge from £13.09 to simply £14.71. Solely drivers of two years plus would obtain a rise of 18 % from £15.22 to £18.00 on the fundamental hourly charge, rising the hole between the two-tiers by £3.29. None of those will increase are handed on for weekend working, voluntary or involuntary extra time and relaxation day working charges—all whittled right down to single proportion factors.
Abellio’s bullying to impose the deal contains providing a £500 bonus for any driver ready to scab on the strike.
The corporate depends on Unite to betray the dispute. Unite again peddled over the unique demand for parity and a £20 hourly charge for all drivers, revising the declare to £18.50 for senior drivers and the decrease charge for newer drivers of £15.05. The battle at Abellio would have been joined by 2,000 Metroline bus drivers at 10 garages throughout west and north London from December 1 for 3 days within the first spherical of seven days of stoppages. This may have been the primary mixed strike motion at two separate corporations by bus staff in London among the many 20,000 workforce. However Unite referred to as off the Metroline motion, issuing a joint assertion with the corporate to suggest the beneath inflation settlement of 11 % (and simply 10 % backpay). Half of the garages and 48.4 % of drivers voted to throw out the deal, which was backed by the Unite paperwork all the best way as much as Common Secretary Sharon Graham.
Graham took to Twitter to announce the newest sub-standard settlement as a “important victory”, which was instantly challenged by Metroline drivers leaving feedback denouncing a “pay lower” bringing “disgrace” and a “shame.”
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Graham appeared on the Abellio picket line at Battersea December 16, with Abellio having already despatched out its letter informing drivers that the de facto pay lower was to be imposed. Whereas claiming that Abellio drivers had the total backing of Unite there was no query of a broader mobilisation towards Abellio. As a substitute, Unite introduced a doubling of strike pay from £70 to £140 a day. This solely applies to the final three days in December, not the additional eight days of motion into January. It’s to purchase time to try to put on down resistance, claiming that Abellio drivers might take the beneath inflation award whereas persevering with to strike in isolation.
Graham claimed to convey solidarity from “531 picket strains” of “over 100,000 members.” However the Unite paperwork during the last month has pushed via quite a lot of sub inflation offers, together with suspending industrial motion by Nationwide Well being Service staff in Scotland for a mean 7.5 % and ending strike motion by management room staff at Community Rail for a 9 % two-year deal. Within the run as much as Christmas the union referred to as off motion by floor handlers employed by Menzies at Heathrow airport, with Graham celebrating a 9.5 % pay take care of an extra 1 % in January.
She supplied as an “escalation” of the Abellio dispute her “leverage” technique of appeals to the company boardroom, together with present house owners the state-run Dutch railways (Nerdelandse Spoorwegen) and UK administration who’re within the technique of a UK purchase out.
This leverage technique was used to finish the 11 week strike by 400 bus drivers in Manchester at Go North West in 2021 towards hearth and rehire. It was used to get the union again across the desk with the corporate in return for a rotten sellout agreeing to over £1 million cuts on the expense of jobs phrases and situations.
David O’Sullivan attended the picket line at Battersea on December 17 bringing solidarity from the London Bus Rank-and-File Committee who had been dedicated to the £20 hour demand and supported unified motion. He defined how this might solely be developed by bus staff taking the struggle out of the palms of the union equipment and drawing up an agenda to implement staff’ calls for on pay and situations towards the non-public operators and their shareholders.
A Battersea driver defined, “I’m right here for the unity of all bus drivers for higher pay. The corporate supply doesn’t mirror what we’re entitled to simply to maintain up with inflation. You may barely afford to warmth your private home. It needs to be £20 per hour from the primary yr and for extra time and weekends £25 an hour.
“I don’t suppose it’s honest that Metroline drivers are usually not out with us. I’ve solely simply heard about this right this moment. I assist all of the strikes together with the nurses. The pandemic confirmed how they didn’t get the right situations and lots of them died, which occurred with us within the bus trade. All of us deserve higher pay.”
A hanging Abellio employee at one other storage in south London instructed the WSWS, “Bus drivers ought to all be paid the identical charge. All of us must rise up on the similar ungodly hour and work to an ungodly hour, placing up with the identical issues and dealing with the identical value of residing disaster. The pandemic confirmed how essential the job is, getting nurses to hospital and conserving different key staff shifting. We’ve been the underside of the pecking order for too lengthy, which we’re not going to just accept. We all know Abellio made income of greater than £400 million final yr.
“Sharon Graham has been promoting bus staff down the river and has solely confirmed up on the final minute, considering we’re going to hand over. Nevertheless it’s the drivers conserving this dispute going. The union has been divisive. There was no plan to convey us collectively in the identical struggle, to convey the bus corporations to their knees.”
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