by Ellen Kenyon Peers and Sorana Secu, Waltham Forest Socialist Party
Spirits were high among striking bus workers on the picket at Lea Interchange on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 December. Drivers were pushed to strike action after a campaign of victimisation against union reps which for some had resulted in them receiving ‘final warning’ letters.
Waltham Forest Socialist Party members visited the big picket line from early in the morning each day.
The importance of having fighting, militant reps was in evidence on the picket, with many drivers reporting the toxic work environment and inexperienced management who are quick to penalise workers for any perceived transgression.
Photo: Ellen Kenyon Peers and Sorana Secu
One driver spoke of how those on the ‘old contracts’ — with more favourable pay and benefits — had targets on their back. Another explained that their poor pay simply failed to offset the cost-of-living crisis.
Working on the buses is not an easy job. Several spoke sombrely of the drivers who had lost their lives during Covid and the others who had risked their own — they asked: “Is this how our sacrifice will be repaid!?”
The employer, Stagecoach, has not yet agreed the pay rise the workers were meant to receive in April.
Socialist Party members from several different Unite branches, including housing workers and Waltham Forest council branch, attended over the two days of action, delivering messages of solidarity from both their union branches and Waltham Forest Trades Council. Len Hockey from Barts Health Unite branch visited and spoke, as well as Unite Executive Committee member and fellow bus driver Jane McGuire.
Strikers were enthusiastic about the suggestion from Linda Taaffe that the trades council produces a leaflet to help build support among passengers that could be delivered in the daytimes by a team of pensioners!
Workers’ list of candidates
Nancy Taaffe raised the need for trade unionists to stand in the council elections next year, alongside socialists and other campaigners, against cuts, and to demand that the privatised bus companies be brought back into public ownership.
Many of the striking drivers signed up to support our campaign for a ‘workers’ list’ in the elections. We hope that some of them will have the confidence to stand themselves, as members of the organised working class.
The bosses attempted to disrupt the strike by reporting ‘improperly parked’ vehicles, to which the council responded by sending a traffic officer to attempt to penalise workers. This from the Labour-run council which has made substantial cuts to public services in recent years.
Despite the attacks against them, workers remained united, with many reiterating their faith in the reps and their willingness to continue strike action until their demands are met. They know the bus company bosses fear the possibility of strike action spreading. Support came from other bus garages, and pickets at Lea Interchange were FaceTiming with drivers at Westbourne Park in west London, also on strike!
Their banner, which reads ‘United for jobs, pay and conditions; against cuts and for public ownership’, perfectly encapsulates the mood and the message. We will fight against cuts and for all public services to be democratically owned and run by the working class – and that will be our message at the next election.
If talks don’t resolve the dispute, the next strikes are 8 and 9 January
Emergency hardship fund:
Unite LE254 Lea Interchange branch
Unity Trust bank
60-83-01
20060855
ref: [your name/organisation]
Messages of support:
Branch secretary: [email protected]
Branch organiser: [email protected]