Under threat

Unite has said that Transport for London (TfL) has a duty to find employment for the 400 Routemaster conductors who face losing their jobs and that there must be no compulsory redundancies by TfL and the 18 bus companies that operate in the capital.

“London buses are a success story and the network looks ready to expand with an increasing population – therefore, there should be plenty of jobs available for the 400 conductors, said Peter Kavanagh, Unite regional secretary for London.

“There is no way that these conductors should be made the scapegoats because of the vanity project of Boris Johnson when he was mayor,” he added.

Unite will be holding talks with London’s deputy mayor for transport Val Shawcross at city hall on Thursday (14 July) to strongly make the case that, with the success of London buses and a growing population in the capital, jobs should be found for the conductors.

“The individual operator cannot be allowed to claim there are no replacement jobs within their own company,” said Peter.

“We will be having talks with the deputy mayor for transport Val Shawcross on Thursday where we will be seeking a pan-London solution to today’s announcement,” he added.

Unite said that the conductors should not be made scapegoats for ‘the vanity project’ of the last mayor Boris Johnson who insisted there should be conductors on the new Routemasters.

 

“TfL and the bus firms have a strong duty to find alternative employment for the conductors, whether being retrained to drive a passenger carrying vehicle (PVC) or in another suitable role,” said Peter.

“We will not countenance compulsory redundancies – that’s our bottom line,” he added.