REPORT: Sovereign busworkers pay parity strike
Picture: Pickets at Edgware garage, 5 January 2009 [pic courtesy of KM]
More than 300 bus workers at Edgware and Harrow bus garages took part in a 24-hour strike on 5 January over pay.
The workers, who are members of the Unite union, are employed by operators London Sovereign and are fighting for parity with other bus workers on the Transport for London network. Currently London Sovereign pay their workers around £6,000 a year less than other companies in London.
Pickets were mounted from 2.30 am on a freezing morning and remained throughout the day at both depots. Strikers were successful in preventing most buses operating on Sovereign routes: 13, N13, 114, 183, 292, H9, H10, H11, H13, H14, H17 and 398.
This was despite bosses sending out a letter saying that workers who broke the strike and accepted their latest pay offer – worth less than 4% – would get their full back pay within the week.
Unite are concerned about the huge disparities in bus workers’ pay, as new companies are set up to undercut existing operators. They are pressing for a single pay structure for all bus workers, and a ballot is due to start soon for co-ordinated strikes across the network.
To contribute to the Sovereign bus workers' strike fund, send cheques payable to 'Unite' c/o Steve Hart, regional secretary, Unite/T&G Regional Office, Woodberry, 218 Green Lanes, London, N4 2HB.
