https://iclfi.org/pubs/wh/255/buses
We received the following leaflet from the Committee for a Fighting Transport Union, which we are happy to reprint. It refers to the Bus Drivers’ Bill of Rights, which seeks to get some basic conditions put into bus operating contracts. A petition drive is seeking to get London mayor Sadiq Khan to sign this bill.
The campaign for a Bus Drivers’ Bill of Rights has done a good thing in bringing together drivers angry about the conditions we all work in. But it will not become a reality by simply pleading with Sadiq Khan. What’s needed is to organise a real struggle.
Even if Mayor Khan of ULEZ puts this Bill of Rights in the bus contracts, we will still need to enforce it on the job. Some things, like being able to refuse a bus without working heating or air conditioning, are already our right. What we don’t have is the confidence that demanding that right will be backed up by the power of our union.
Sharon Graham was elected promising to fight for jobs, pay and conditions. Three years later, we are still waiting for any of it. It is obvious our leaders won’t organise a fight, so we must organise ourselves. The only way we are going to get any of our needs met is to make UNITE fight for us. Here’s how:
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Refuse unsafe conditions! The companies’ profits are not worth our lives and livelihoods. Encourage others to do the same and demand your union’s protection. Isolated, we are open to being victimised. Together, we are a force.
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Recruit to the union! Too many have quit the union because they don’t see it fighting for them. If we can make it fight, we can win them back and win new members, building our strength.
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Prepare for London-wide action! That is what we need to improve our conditions. Not the usual token strikes at a single garage or company. Let’s fight to make UNITE prepare a real confrontation to change the whole industry. We work in one city on one transport system. We should be in one union with one contract.
