BUS PAY

T he UK bus industry is dominated by five large companies which emerged for the privatisation of the industry in the 1980s. However, pay bargaining is largely carried out at workplace level which effectively means that each depot has a separate agreement, The ‘big five’ bus companies, which represent around 70 per cent of the market, are all highly profitable, but drivers have had to take industrial action over pay freezes or to win pay rises. In the year to December 2012, Arriva, which is owned by Deutsche Bahn (DB), had revenues of £1,010.9 million — up by 8.6 per cent over the 2011 figure of £930.7 million. DB described the climate in the UK bus line of business as “challenging” with higher energy prices and government bus subsidy cuts. Stagecoach Group had revenue of £1,140.2 million in the year to April 2012, up by 11 per cent from £1,027.2 million in 2011 and operating profit was £176.2 million up by 19.7 percent from £147.2 million in 2011. The company said that “although wages have generally increased in line with average earnings, staff costs as a whole fell as a percentage of revenue, reflecting a continued focus on cost control and reduced pension costs”. First Group had revenues in the year to March 2012 of £1,157.2 million and operating profit of £134.4 million down 9.7 percent from £148.8 million in 2011. The management referred to “the need to reform the operational model in UK Bus in order to achieve sustainable growth”. To achieve this they stated that they would focus on “repositioning and rebalancing our portfolio of operations; driving increased passenger revenue and patronage growth and improving operating discipline and efficiencies”. There have been at least two industrial disputes with First Group drivers in the last year with strikes in Devon and Cornwall in October and November 2012 over a pay dispute. Go-Ahead Group had revenues in the year to June 2012 of £691.3 million with operating profits of £70.2 million up 4.6 per cent from £67.1 million in 2011. The management described the performance of the bus operations as “robust”. On 30 March 2012 they bought Northumberland Park bus depot in north London from First Group for £14.3 million. Earlier this year, RMT members in the Go-Ahead subsidiary covering Wiltshire and Dorset took strike action over changes to their shift times and the imposition of unpaid meal breaks. National Express Group had revenue of £269 million in the year to December 2012 with operating profits of £34.1 million up by 4.3 per cent from £32.7 million in 2011. The company said in its latest annual report that their UK Bus division had performed well in 2012 “despite a reduction in the Bus Service Operators’ Grant”. It said that their fleet of 1,660 buses is “focussed on the West Midlands and Dundee markets”. PAY INCREASES The median increase for manual workers in the bus industry for Unite and RMT members was two per cent on the lowest basic rate for settlements between July last year and July 2013. At the top 75th percentile the increase for RMT settlements was 2.95 per cent and 2.3 per cent for Unite settlements. These increases are based on the latest information held on the Labour Research Department’s Payline database. RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2013 :: RMTnews 13 BUS PAY C ity Link members have held protests in defence of jobs, pay and working conditions following attempts by the company to bulldoze through changes to contracts that would hammer down pay in the interests of profit. Activists have been handing out leaflets to the public explaining how RMT members find themselves under attack from the same kind of private equity bankers and speculators who destroyed the UK economy. City Link was sold off earlier this year to private equity group Better Capital by Rentokil Initial and that sell off to Jon Moulton’s outfit has coincided with an all-out assault on terms and conditions, including pay cuts of up to £4000. The assault on pay and conditions has sparked a surge in union membership and hundreds of workers are now actively engaged in the fight back at City Link depots across the country. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the company should be under no illusions that their workforce are up for the campaign and the union is calling for the broadest possible support. “Cuts in pay mean that our members very livelihoods are threatened and the battle at City Link is a national campaign against a high-profile company and is an important campaign for all working people against private equity companies who think they can treat their workers like dirt,” he said. PAY FIGHT AT CITY LINK