Unlawful action to stop strike?

As London’s bus workers get ready to take further strike action this Friday (February 13), Unite is concerned that Transport for London (TfL) could be interfering in the dispute.

Unite is now insisting that TfL must confirm that it is not interfering in the London bus dispute – in what would be, if true, an unlawful bid to block a resolution to the London bus dispute today (Wednesday February 11).

With further strikes looming, Unite has sought legal assurances from TfL requesting that its board members sign a neutrality statement pledging not to block talks aimed at resolving the dispute between the union and London’s 18 bus operators.

The extraordinary moves come as Unite has pledged to use freedom of information (FoI) laws to force TfL to reveal the contents of a secret meeting it believes was held in January, and which the union believes undermined any prospect of talks.

In a legal letter to London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, who is also the chair of the TfL board, Unite has asked TfL to confirm that a meeting occurred on January 30 with TfL managers.

Unite believes that those attending were asked to sign confidentiality agreements, before being told that the collective forum being sought by Unite is lawful – running contrary to repeated public statements made by TfL.

The union also sought clarity that route allocations for bus operators would not be jeopardised if they entered into collective talks with Unite – and went on to warn that TfL would be breaking the law if it waived penalty clauses for lost mileage through the dispute.

Extraordinary abuse

If true, behaviour of this kind would constitute ‘misfeasance’ Unite alleges, and would be an extraordinary abuse of its role as a public body.

“It has become apparent after two days of strongly supported strike action that we need clarification that TfL has not secretly been playing the role of wrecker rather than serving the best interests of London’s 6.8m bus passengers,” commented Wayne King, Unite regional officer.

“In public TfL says ‘nothing can be done’ and that a collective meeting between the bus companies is ‘illegal.’ Yet privately, we are told that it seems TfL knows that’s not to be the case.

“We need to know that TfL is neutral and not secretly resorting to blocking a resolution to the dispute,” King added.

King believes the public deserves absolute assurances that there is no duplicity on the part of TfL.

Shameful

“Such behaviour, if true, would be shameful from a taxpayer funded organisation,” he said, adding that it would run fully against its duty as a public body. It would also

“undermine the serious talks we have had with several bus operators aimed at resolving the dispute.”

King is convinced a resolution can be found. “Unite simply requires TfL to sign a public statement of neutrality to confirm that operators can negotiate freely with Unite,” he said.

“TfL should have no problems signing such a statement and indeed should welcome the opportunity to clarify its position.”

King has said that if the statement is not signed, Unite will have to pursue freedom of information requests to establish precisely what meetings have occurred to discuss Unite’s demands – and to learn precisely what has been said by TfL to those operators who seek to negotiate a resolution to this dispute.

“No doubt the public will reach their own conclusions if Unite is forced to pursue the FoI requests,” King concluded.