THERE was a well-attended picket line at Bow bus garage yesterday as drivers continued their fight for safe scheduling.
Tom, a driver with 30 years’ experience, said: ‘I think that we are making a difference. It is hurting the company.
‘They are having to get people from other areas, for example Manchester, Sheffield and Scotland.
‘They’re spending a lot of money on them – £30 a day for food, hotel paid for, £350 paid wages a day. This is how they break the strike.
‘They have to train them up on the routes for two days and get them to do one day of bus driving on strike day.’
He added that management was also stopping drivers’ rest day working. ‘Many drivers survive financially by working a rest day a week on overtime money. Instead they are bringing workers from other garages to do overtime.
‘A lot of them don’t want to do this, but they are told if they refuse, it would be “secondary striking” and illegal.’
He noted that all London transport was once publicly run before Transport for London came in and privatised the buses.
The next strike is scheduled for 15 May. The company has not yet agreed to talks.
Picket supervisor Dave said: ‘We’re on strike number six, due to the head office not negotiating our pleas, as well as refusing to inch forward and talk to the drivers.
‘I feel that further strikes will carry on, as the conditions are unbearable, which are the schedules, toilet facilities and rest patterns.
‘Currently the breaks are 40 to 50 minutes, which isn’t adequate. These schedules are the cause of fatigue. How can you retain drivers with schedules like this?’
Driver Arly said: ‘One week we can be really late in finishing, for example at 01.30 to 01.45. Another week, it’s early starts such as 04.30.
‘That means your sleeping patterns are disrupted and makes you grumpy. My tiredness affects my work, in that it can be dangerous to me and my passengers.’
Another driver said: ‘It’s a high responsibility job. We’re taking care of passengers and we’ve got a lot of hazards on the road. It’s only right that we get proper rest.’
Michael Plummer, Unite Bow Branch Secretary, said that drivers end up working longer than their contracted hours as they are not paid for breaks and that the breaks are not long enough. He said: ‘We’re asking for one hour minimum. Apart from one route, there’s no toilets, and we’re all on different contracts.’