THERE were over 100 pickets covering all the entrances to Willesden Bus Garage in north west London yesterday morning.
Bus driver and TGWU member Christine Brown told News Line on the picket line: ‘Our strike is solid. We do the job asked of us, we put up with all the grief day to day and we are entitled to a living wage.
‘We are on £10.63 an hour and all we are asking for is 37p extra an hour and they are refusing.
‘On the four per cent they are offering us they are asking us to accept worse terms and conditions.
‘They want to take away our holiday bonus, it is not right. Some of us are single parents and we cannot get housing.
‘We are out again on Monday and we will keep striking until we get our pay rise.’
Fellow bus driver Manjula Halai added: ‘Metroline have got money to buy other companies but nothing to give us.’
Driver Robert Chang said: ‘From the July 7th bombings it has dawned on us we are doing a dangerous job. There is no surety of coming home for these meagre wages.
‘The company has refused to negotiate with ACAS. Last year they gave us a raise but I didn’t agree with what they did. The overtime rate is the same even though we got a raise, so we were worse off.
‘It is one step forwards and two steps backwards.
‘They are trying to attack our pension scheme. We want London Transport to run the buses. All the bus companies must be renationalised and then they must pay us decent pay.
‘They employ Polish workers, pay them £7 an hour and then take three of those pounds for accommodation,’ he alleged.
There was a very large picket out in force at Holloway Bus Garage in north London – a minimum of 100 strikers.
TGWU member Angeb Dessi said: ‘I travel every day from Bishop Stortford (Stansted) – 70 miles for me. I don’t take any benefit for me, my wife and four children.
‘I pay rent and council tax and everything. I come with a bike, not a car.
‘I’m working 6-7 days a week for money to support my family and myself and when you ask for some help from the bosses they tell you they can’t.
‘Many of the workers want London-wide action and some realise it’s a national issue.’
The strikers were joined by TGWU Deputy General Secretary Jack Dromey.
Addressing the mass picket he said: ‘The union is right behind you. 2,000 workers have stopped. The public is behind you.
‘We send an unmistakable message – our members will take strike action until we get what we want. We’ve tried to negotiate.’
