By an RMT member
A driver at my depot is maybe required to start as early as 4 30 in the morning and could finish as late as 1 at night, has to work weekends and undertake split duties of up to 12 hours in duration. This, to say the least, is an unsocial job
Then there is the traffic congestion to contend with. To tell family that you will finish at a certain time would be holding yourself hostage to fortune. Increased congestion has resulted in an increased likelihood of road rage assaults on staff.
On top of the all this, is a management disciplinary code. I am writing this anonymously, due to the fact that I could face a charge of “bringing the company into disrepute” and be fired.
Bus drivers are responsible for the safety and comfort of up to nearly 100 passengers at any given time they are often referred to as professional drivers. It’s high time that they were treated as such in regard to pay and conditions.
As a result of low pay and all of the above pressures, the industry suffers staff shortages. Poorly paid work breeds a culture of excessive overtime and many drivers have to work long hours to secure a living wage. All the evidence suggest that long hours are detrimental to health and should be restricted to a maximum of 48 hours a week. Recently, management had the brass neck to complain about high staff sickness.
But Stagecoach South West Drivers and other staff are fighting back. They have voted to back industrial action for a reasonable pay rise. Management have offered only a 1.4 per cent increase, which is in real terms is a pay cut. At a recent branch meeting I advocated a one-day strike as a means of mobilizing more extensive action to win a decent pay rise.
Is it not time that the TUC called all workers on 24 hour general strike as all workers are having their pay and conditions reduced?
20 September 2017
