{"id":2965,"date":"2015-02-05T13:01:30","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T13:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2965"},"modified":"2015-02-06T11:09:15","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T11:09:15","slug":"solid-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2965","title":{"rendered":"Solid support \u00e2\u20ac\u201c again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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London bus drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 strike action today (February 5) across the capital saw solid support, as up to 20,000 bus workers walked out for a second time to end pay inequality and secure one collective agreement for pay and conditions.<\/p>\n

 
\nPicket lines were in place outside London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 70 bus garages, widely attended by bus workers demanding that the city\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 18 bus operators come to the table and resolve the dispute.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite today accused TfL of being \u00e2\u20ac\u0098wildly optimistic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with its claims of the number of buses on the road today.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOnce again, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen solid support by bus workers determined to end the pay chaos on London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s buses,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite regional officer Wayne King.<\/p>\n

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\nCrawling in the dirt<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\nUnite regional officer John Murphy, supporting bus workers at the New Cross bus garage this morning, explained why bus drivers have been driven to breaking point.<\/p>\n

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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe average London bus driver should be paid the average London bus driver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTheir wages vary by about \u00c2\u01413 an hour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like much when you put it in those terms, but it amounts to \u00c2\u01416,000 a year in the end. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a \u00c2\u01416,000 year difference for driving the same route, and using the same buses.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBus drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 wages haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t kept up with the cost of living,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been pretty stagnant in the last five years. Our people are really struggling on these wages \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about what we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford to buy, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about what we weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t able to pay for this week. Bus drivers get paid and right away they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thinking about what they can save their money on.<\/p>\n

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\nMurphy highlighted that the low wages resulting from the dozens of different pay structures from different operators are at odds with the obscene profits these operators make.<\/p>\n

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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt the same time that these bus drivers have been taking cuts to their living standards, these bus companies have increased their profits substantially,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Murphy explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Go-Ahead group, for example, have increased their profit margins by five per cent year on year. This year, they paid their shareholders \u00c2\u014140m just from London buses. Should this be acceptable when our bus drivers are crawling in the dirt, barely surviving?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite branch chair James Clitheroe, who has been driving buses for seven years, knows from personal experience how difficult it is to subsist on bus drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 wages.<\/p>\n

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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been through a recession for the last four or five years, and they say now that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a light at the end of the tunnel, that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re finally coming through it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been told daily by the government that the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on its feet. But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see this reflected in my wage. Living costs simply haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t kept up.<\/p>\n

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\nNo hostility<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\nAs surveys have proven before, the vast majority of London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commuters whole-heartedly support bus workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 struggle, as Murphy saw for himself this morning.<\/p>\n

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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been explaining to people at the bus stops that the buses won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be coming today, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen absolutely no hostility,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSure, some may feel inconvenienced, but everyone I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve talked to understands the point of what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing today. They can understand the injustice of two people doing the same job getting paid different wages.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\nUnite rep John Crichton, who has been driving buses for almost 30 years, agrees that the wider public understands and puts the blame for the dispute squarely on the shoulders of the recalcitrant bus operators.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that the public supports us \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I think they understand. Ultimately, though, the buses don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t run for the public anymore, the way it used to be, when I first started. Now they run to make a few people mountains of money.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\nCome to the table<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\nClitheroe adds that today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strike is as much about securing their demands as it is about urging the operators to have a simple, collective discussion.<\/p>\n

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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf they would just come to the table and work with us, we wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be striking in the first place,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Clitheroe. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI quite enjoy my job and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather be at work. But the employers are refusing to even have a discussion.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\nSharon, a bus driver for 15 years, agrees that the job \u00e2\u20ac\u201c though often stressful \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is ultimately an enjoyable one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve driven buses since 1999, and I absolutely love it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI love driving. What the employers are doing to us is simply not fair \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we do the same work, all we want is the same rate of pay.<\/p>\n

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\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI love my job too much to ever give it up \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but I will keep on striking until we all get the justice we deserve,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London bus drivers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 strike action today (February 5) across the capital saw solid support, as up to 20,000 bus workers walked out for a second time to end pay inequality and secure one collective agreement for pay and conditions.   Picket lines were in place outside London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 70 bus garages, widely attended by bus workers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[211,132],"wps_subtitle":"London buses stopped by pay strike ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2967,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965\/revisions\/2967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}