Strike hits prestigious train route

South Africa

Less than a week after the much anticipated Gautrain Pretoria to Johannesburg route was launched, Gautrain feeder service bus drivers are about to embark on a strike today.
Shop steward Vusi Ngobeni said the reason for embarking on a strike was low salaries and poor working conditions. “We have to arrive at our work stations by 4am and most of the drivers don’t have transport to get to work that early. When we asked the company for transport we were told it was not up to them to provide workers with transport to get to work,” said Ngobeni.
He said drivers from other companies earned much better salaries compared to what they we getting. According to Ngobeni, drivers earn just R4600 (£405) per month and they do not get a transport allowance. “They have not included family members on our medical aid. They are cheating us out of our benefits,” said Ngobeni.
A bus driver who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of being victimised said the timing of the strike so soon after the launch of the service was meant to maximise impact as people had responded well to the route. “If we don’t use this opportunity our grievances won’t be heard. We apologise for disruption but we also have children to feed and we can’t do that on a salary of less than R5000,” said the driver.
http://www.thenewage.co.za

Unite must throw weight behind Abdul Omer

The campaign to reinstate Abdul Omer Mohsin, the sacked Unite union convenor on Sovereign buses in London, has dragged on for more than a year. The situation has forced Abdul to publicly demand that Unite act in his defence.
The emotional and financial strain on Abdul is enormous. He faces eviction from his home as he cannot afford his mortgage payments.
And Abdul has been hospitalised three times in the past month, diagnosed with a serious heart condition linked to stress. Shockingly, the first hospitalisation came during a union Region Industrial Sector Committee (RISC) in June. Abdul, an elected committee member, was told that he could not raise his case as he is no longer a union member. He was denied travel expenses.
After the meeting, the Unite region sent Abdul a letter stating that his membership subscription was in arrears and he could lose all financial support from the union for his legal fees. This added enormously to his distress. Abdul was around £20 in arrears, not over £200 as claimed.
When Abdul was sacked, Unite argued that it was because of his union activity. It rejected management claims that he had intimidated a witness while representing a worker at a disciplinary hearing.
Unite praised Abdul as a leading militant. His face adorns union posters from the London pay campaign, which was launched with a protest outside Transport for London in 2007. 

Strikes and protests continued throughout 2008. Thousands of drivers took part. At its height the campaign saw drivers at First, Metroline and Metrobus set to strike together. But the threat of legal action saw the union call off the strikes. And they were never put back on. Despite this, in September 2009 drivers occupied Transport for London’s offices to demand centralised pay bargaining. Abdul led the occupation.
In October 2008, Abdul and other activists convinced drivers at Sovereign to reject an appalling pay offer. They voted by 98 percent for a strike ballot and struck in January 2009. But management undermined the union by making a pay offer to drivers individually, and the union, worried about division, suspended the action. Abdul fought hard to get the strikes reinstated.
It was in this context that Abdul was sacked. Sovereign management were desperate to break the drivers’ militancy—sacking Abdul was an opportunity to do so. But drivers wanted to fight. As recently as May, Sovereign drivers voted for a campaign to be launched in Abdul’s defence.
Drivers have rejected moves to elect a new convenor until Abdul’s case is resolved.
Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, said that Abdul had his “unequivocal support”. But Unite has failed to organise a ballot for action over his reinstatement. At different points there has been confusion over the direction of the campaign. Sometimes the Unite officers handling it have disagreed sharply with Abdul over the way forward. This is bound to happen in a difficult situation where the sacked worker is under enormous strain. But no matter what the disagreements in the past, Abdul deserves support from his union—and the union needs militants like Abdul.
Bus drivers in the capital face serious attacks on their pay and conditions. If Sovereign succeeds in sacking a well-known activist it sends a message to other groups of workers. “I want to be fighting the Sovereign managers who sacked me, not my trade union,” Abdul told Socialist Worker. “There is so much to fight for—I want to be part of that, but that means getting my job back.”
Abdul wants a ballot for his reinstatement, if there is a serious campaign to win it. “We need to put pressure on the company,” he added. “The last year has been incredibly stressful. But if we make my case public we can show that the company has behaved disgracefully. I think we can win. This will mean running a vigorous campaign.”
The London-wide action in 2008 showed that bus drivers are powerful. With the Olympics on the horizon, they are in a strong position to fight management attacks. A campaign uniting bus workers across the capital could turn back the employers’ attacks. Defending Abdul must be a priority for Unite if it is to show the bosses that it means business.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk

Donations payable to Mr A.I. Omer, Barclays, account 20408859, sort code 20-69-15. 

Copies of Unite branch cheques should be sent to Peter Kavanagh as the union has promised to match donations: Unite, Woodberry, 218 Green Lanes, Finsbury Park, London N4 2HB.

Solidarity messages and donation pledges to Abdul at omermohsin2@yahoo.co.uk

Bognor and Chichester strike called off

A strike planned by Stagecoach drivers this week in Chichester and Bognor Regis has been called off. A ballot fell in favour of accepting a pay offer for drivers and back office staff at the weekend.
Drivers in the area were set to strike tomorrow, Thursday 28 July, and Saturday 30 July, but it was called off after the Unite union reached an agreement. An employee who did not want to be named said there was to be a protest march through the streets of Chichester on Thursday.

http://www.bognor.co.uk

Souter's bulging wallet

Stagecoach co-founder and chief executive Sir Brian Souter has seen a double-digit increase in his pay package following a strong year for the Perth-based transport group.
Although his salary only edged up by £11,000 to £564,000, Souter saw the cash and shares bonus payment he received rise by £66,000 to £258,000, according to the company's latest annual report. Together with benefits his total pay package rose to £844,000, an increase of almost 11 per cent on the £762,000 he received the previous year.
But with Souter owning around 15 per cent of the company, his salary package is a relatively small part of his income. Following a 9 per cent hike in the full-year dividend payment, Souter will receive more than £7.7 million in dividend payments.
Stagecoach's performance last year was boosted by increased use of public transport with commuters leaving cars at home because of high fuel prices. Pre-tax profits rose by 27.5 per cent to £205.7m in the year to 30 April with group turnover rising by 10 per cent rise to £2.4 billion, boosted by growth at home and abroad.
The regional UK bus division - which operates services in Aberdeen, Fife and the Highlands as well as several cities south of the Border - saw sales growth of 2.1 per cent to £893.6m. Operating profits rose 21 per cent to £153.1m.

http://thescotsman

FirstGroup revolt over CEO payout

Tim O'Toole, the chief executive of FirstGroup, suffered a rare public rebuke last Friday after 42% of shareholders voted against his remuneration package.
A bloc of shareholders took exception to a "retention" share award of nearly 215,000 shares. The award, worth around £760,000 at Friday's share price, will be triggered if O'Toole is still at the helm or is not working his notice on 1 November 2013. O'Toole earned a total of £591,000 last year, excluding a housing allowance of £138,000.
FirstGroup shares rose 8.18% to 356p on Friday as the transport operator said sales in its rail business rose 8.5% in the three months to 30 June and its bus division saw a 0.7% rise in like-for-like sales.

http://www.guardian.co.uk

Unite leader paid £500,000 'golden goodbye'

Britain's largest trade union, Unite, is facing a "golden goodbye" pay row after its former leader Derek Simpson was paid more than £500,000 last year, including a £361,000 severance payment. Simpson received £510,659, the bulk comprising of £361,347 in severance pay. He also received £97,677 in gross salary, and more than £51,000 in housing benefit and car allowances.
Simpson's colleague and joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, did not receive a payoff and was paid a total of £136,289. He is still employed by Unite on £20,000 a year.
Simpson and Woodley's successor, Len McCluskey, said he was shocked by the payment. But he stressed that Simpson's payoff was drawn up under the financial system used by the Amicus union, which merged with the T&G in 2007 to form Unite. McCluskey said there would be no similar payments under his regime, but the union was powerless to intervene in Simpson's case. "It is inappropriate but there is little that I can do about it. There will be no such agreements in Unite going forward."
According to Unite's annual return for 2010, the union generated an income of £141.6m last year but spent £171.9m, pushing the union into a deficit of £30.2m.
http://www.guardian.co.uk

Plymouth First drivers vote for action

Over 100 Plymouth First bus drivers have voted for industrial action over management scrapping the staff bus. Workers in the RMT union voted for action that may include a strike and an overtime ban.
The staff bus drops workers at its Chelson Meadow depot at 6.02am, Monday to Saturday. Bosses claim the bus is under-used and uneconomical, but the workers’ RMT union say it is the “axing of essential staff transport”. The service was set up before the firm was privatised.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk

Arriva flies British strikebreakers to Malta

Arriva took over the Maltese bus network on Sunday, but were immediately plunged into chaos by an unofficial strike of at least 60 drivers. The drivers expressed their fury that despite signing an agreement to work a straight eight-hour shift, they were presented with a roster that includes split shifts running from 11am to 11.30pm with a four-hour break in between.
Many drivers refused to work the proposed shifts in spite of an agreement reached between the General Workers’ Union (GWU), which represents 480 bus drivers, and Arriva. Without the backing of their union, bus drivers congregated at 5am on Sunday, to try and stop the new fleet from taking off.
Twanny Cassar, who was chosen by those present to speak on their behalf, insisted the GWU had failed to inform them of the agreement reached with Arriva and it had forged ahead without consulting them, something the union denies. Mr Cassar said the only way drivers would agree to work a split shift was if they were paid €350 a week and not the paltry €245 a week they were being offered. “We were told that if we don’t like it we can return our uniform and leave. But we will fight this and if not we will go and register (for work, at the unemployment office). We cannot stand by and be ridiculed,” he said to loud cheers from fellow drivers.
Transport Minister Austin Gatt was in bullish mood, telling the workers “The days when you dictated what happened in public transport are over... a new service [is starting] with new conditions. Those who don’t like these conditions can choose not to not turn up for work and I hope they will be fired,” he said.
Arriva Malta responded to the strike by flying in 55 British drivers to fill the gaps in its service. But they don't speak the language, and don't know the routes.
This report has been compiled from several sources, principally the Times of Malta:
http://www.timesofmalta.com