Forum Topic

But drivers' grievances: Bus Strike Planned for Friday Has Been Suspended

TfL has been careful to give NO information about the grievances of bus drivers. They are real: bus drivers employed by a dozen different bus companies (including Arriva, Stage Coach, Go Ahead) are paid up to 25% less for the same work and are given very different terms and conditions of employment, although their jobs are of course identical. The drivers want standardised pay and conditions, and point to the Tube drivers, whose pay is standardised (and high!)For more details please visit the website of Unite the union: http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/london-bus-drivers-take-to-the-streets-to-demand-decent-wages/Like the "decentralised" NHS, all London buses LOOK the same because they carry the TfL logo and livery, are painted the same red and they comply with TfL regulations. But private contractors vie to cut costs in the usual way....

Una Hodgkins ● 3870d7 Comments

Una - never in the history of trade unionism has a union asked their members to take a pay cut to end pay differentials

Paul Corcoran ● 3868d

I'm just backing Unison's call for talks to try to arrive at a fairer set of pay bands and conditions across all the different bus companies. That might well be the average of the highest and lowest rates. That is what unions are for: to try and ensure fairness.

Una Hodgkins ● 3868d

So if you are right and some drivers get paid 25% more than others (I'm sceptical that if you took into account all contract details this would be correct) then are you suggesting that all drivers be brought up to the highest rate or that it should be standardised at an average. If the former, how would you fund the pay rises - higher fares or reduced services?

Ellen Kearney ● 3868d

Is 25% difference "marginal"? Would you work for a company knowing that someone else doing exactly the same job was being paid 25% more than you?The professions do not agree to this kind of "divide and rule", but then they are fewer in number and they are "professional".It is time to agree London-wide pay scales for bus drivers. Unison is right.

Una Hodgkins ● 3868d

Lots of people have to travel quite a distance to get to work and most bus depots in London are within 40 mins of each other. Drivers probably don't switch jobs because the extra journey time would outweigh the pay increase as the differential between firms is marginal.

Paul Corcoran ● 3868d

TfL is able to "divide and rule" the bus drivers by using sub-contractors who compete to provide a service to TfL at the lowest cost.... And TfL is able to studiedly ignore the pay problem on the flimsy pretence that "the bus drivers don't work for TfL". Yes, but?! Drivers can't just go to work for another company. They need to get home at the end of a long shift. They are basically forced to work for the local company.

Una Hodgkins ● 3869d

As TfL don't employ the bus drivers then I'm not sure why they should comment. As for union demands for standardised pay, they would have more credibility if they said that salaries should be equalised at the average rate rather than the highest. Ultimately there is nothing to stop a driver from a relatively poorly paid company switching to one with higher rates - bus companies are always looking for experienced drivers.

Ellen Kearney ● 3869d