BUS CUTS DAMAGE ECONOMIC RECOVERY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may 2011 :: RMTnews 11 RMT bus workers’ conference in Exeter called for the union to campaign against cuts and for better safety and conditions in the industry. Keith Sanders-Hole, Exeter No 2, proposed that the union should support the local passenger-led campaigns that are taking place to save bus services. “We need to be actively involved. We should be with the anti-cuts campaigners who are campaigning to save our jobs,” he said. Conference called for the union to keep bus branches informed of anti-cuts campaigns and to support local bus branches involved these campaigns. RMT president Alex Gordon agreed on the importance of linking up with community-led anti-cuts campaigns. He pointed to the massive demonstration in London on 26 March as confirmation of how strong the feeling is amongst the public against the huge swathe of cuts that is taking place across the public sector and publicly subsidised privatised services. “We may be in the private sector, temporarily, but it is still a public service. “In the bus industry we are facing an onslaught from George Osborne’s spending review and many local authorities see bus services as expendable. “In Somerset we have seen massive cuts while in Cambridgeshire they aim to cut 100 per cent of the bus grant over the next four years. “These cuts go right across the board but will be felt in rural communities in particular,” he said. Dave Gilbey, South Devon Bus, told the conference that the entire bus industry was under attack nationally and locally. “With every cut jobs will go and so will our pensions. “They want our jobs and the money that we have put worked for and put into our pensions,” he said. Guest speaker Sophie Allain of the Campaign for Better Transport, told conference about the work of the Save Our Buses campaign that had been launched earlier in the year. “The campaign is about defending buses from the public service cuts and it has brought together a broad coalition including all the major unions. “We are looking at legal challenges and whether proposed local authority cuts are within the law. We need to inject buses into the anti-cuts movement,” she said. SAFETY The lack of safety equipment and non-working equipment on buses was drawn to the attention of the conference by numerous delegates. The issue had special resonance in the wake of serious physical attacks on RMT bus drivers recently. Conference called on the union to make driver alarms a mandatory fixture in the cabs of all new vehicles. Phil Coakley, Poole and District, said he was surprised to learn that new vehicles were being brought into depots without an alarm as standard. “Only with the delivery of new vehicles to our depot did we realise that the alarms were not part of the spec. “They should be fitted as standard,” he said. Assistant general secretary Mick Cash, argued that the need for clearer guidelines on the condition a bus has to be in before it is deemed safe to go on the road. “It is important that we campaign and highlight the problem of non-working equipment on buses,” he said. AGAINST ATTACKS ON CONDITIONS Joe Galea, Notts and Derby Bus, explained how members transferred under the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) often found themselves working under worse conditions. This is in spite of the fact that TUPE legislation is meant to ensure that when a business is transferred from one owner to another the employees are employed on the same terms and conditions. “Some of our members have been employed by three different companies at three different locations in four months,” he said. “Although this is better than being without a job in these hard times, each time they have had to move further away from their original location and their terms and conditions have tended to change slightly each time. “Members who lived close to their workplace now find themselves travelling long distances to work,” he said. Relief regional organiser Pete Skelly agreed that while under TUPE members’ rights were meant to be protected, that in fact this wasn’t always the case. “With TUPE, every time you are moved you lose something. “They cut costs by attacking wages and conditions,” he said. The 9th annual RMT Garden Party for Cuba in association with Cuba Solidarity Campaign June 21 Special guests to be announced Live music, food, free bar Tickets at £15 Order by post, cheques payable to RMT, from: Cuba Garden Party, RMT, 39 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD. Credit card orders on 020 7387 4771 AWARD: Longstanding RMT member and bus worker Peter Edwards received an award from assistant general secretary Mick Cash on his retirement from the industry. “Conference will not be the same without Pete’s charm and wit and we all wish him all the best for the future,” he said.