Drivers are pushing for all London buses to retrofitted with proper air conditioning before temperatures soar again next summer
London will be hit by a city-wide bus strike if Sir Sadiq Khan fails to address ‘appalling’ bus driver conditions, Unite union officials have warned. Some 1,500 drivers across North and East London resumed their walkout after negotiations between Unite and bus company Arriva broke down.
The dispute is centred on the operator’s inability to retrofit and maintain effective air-conditioning in each vehicle, which led to claims drivers were being forced to work long hours in cabs that reached 40C. But a spate of other issues including allegedly poor toilet facilities and being rostered to start work just 10 hours after their previous shift finished has led to thousands of drivers across London calling for a ‘Bill of Rights’ to be added to operator contracts.
“We’ve been in meetings with TfL over the summer asking them when they’re going to be retrofitting air conditioning [in buses]. Now, they’ve agreed to do that, but it’s now about the timeline,” Unite regional officer Nadine Edwards told MyLondon.
“The heatwaves this year started in May, so we have to be ready for May – not June, July or August. And if they don’t give us a timeline, then we will take action.
“We’re not going to have another summer of this. Quite often, these things slip when the cold weather comes and people forget about it, and then we’re back where we were. But that retrofit needs to happen in the next six to eight months so we’re ready and prepared for what is likely going to be another really hot summer.”
Unite have suggested similar concerns over the lack of a concrete timeline led to talks stalling during the Arriva North London dispute last weekend. Drivers are reportedly keen to get dates for when exactly buses will be retrofitted with air conditioning before they agree to call off the strike.
An extreme weather taskforce was launched this summer involving members of TfL, Unite and London bus companies, but union officials have described Sir Sadiq Khan’s decision not to engage in these talks as a “misstep”.
“Sadiq has made some really strong statements that we’ve really welcomed,” Ms Edwards added. “We asked for that task force, and and he created it.
“But he hasn’t been in the room [with us] yet. The proof will be in the pudding, we’ve got a few more task forces to go and we’ll see what comes out of it.
“I know that bus drivers are are looking to him for leadership and looking to him to make real long-lasting change, not just statements.”
Despite Unite’s renewed campaign this summer, the union has faced criticism from bus drivers who have questioned why it has taken this long for mentions of a city-wide strike to surface when these issues have plagued their colleagues for decades. Dylan Carroll, founder of London Bus Forums, claims independent campaigners have played a greater role in pressuring TfL to listen to their concerns.
“The lack of toilets has affected drivers for more than a decade now,” he told MyLondon. “Unite did a campaign a number of years ago but nothing changed from it. They look at an issue for a short period of time and get a small resolution before moving on.”
Responding to questions of whether Unite could have been stronger over the past few years, Ms Edwards said the union has done a “fantastic job” in securing better pay and conditions for its members.
“A few years ago Abellio drivers got an 18 per cent pay rise,” she continued. “We’re constantly holding operators to account, but we also need to be holding Khan and TfL to account, and that’s what I want to do to make sure that the people that are tendering that work out are also the people that are are setting the standards. So, we’ll continue to to do that and push on that area more.”
Responding to MyLondon, Sir Sadiq Khan said he is working with TfL, bus operators and Unite to help protect drivers during periods of extreme heat. He added that a key action of the taskforce will be to assess the feasibility of retrofitting drivers’ cabs in older buses with new air conditioning systems and to work our other solutions to making extreme heat more bearable.
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