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Hundreds of bus workers demonstrate against cuts outside City Hall

15 September 2010

WHEN: 9.30am on Wednesday, 15 September
WHERE: City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, SE1 2AA

Hundreds of bus workers and members of Unite, the UK’s biggest union, will today (Wednesday, 15 September) lobby City Hall over the coalition government’s huge projected cuts.

The Con-Dem spending review set for next month is expected to outline more cuts which could further threaten services as well as the workers in a section of London’s transport system that has already seen pay freezes while inflation is running at close to five per cent.

Unite will be holding ballots at a number of bus companies across London over pay and conditions. The tendering system currently in place for London’s bus companies is driving down wages and terms and conditions as bus companies compete to deliver services cheaper than rivals.

Peter Kavanagh, Unite regional official, said: “Londoner’s deserve better than this. Rocketing fares, contracted mileage and wage freezes will lead to a return to the bad old days of clapped out buses, more infrequent, more overcrowded, disappearing from outer London – and driven by low paid drivers.

“Boris Johnson talks the talk about defending London’s interests, yet he campaigned hard for this Tory led government that is now threatening all the progress of recent years.”

Since Boris Johnson was elected as Mayor in May 2008, London has seen single bus fares increased by 30 per cent, he has scrapped the Western extension to the congestion zone losing £70 million revenue and the proposed congestion charge for high polluting vehicles has also been abandoned losing a further £50 million in revenue.

The scale of the cuts already announced will have a disproportionate impact on the poor, the elderly and the disabled yet privatised bus companies are still making a healthy profit. Why should passengers and workers take all the pain? Company profit margins should be looked at too.

Bus workers from bus companies and garages right across London will gather today to hear speeches from senior Unite officials, former mayor Ken Livingstone, Dot Gibson, general secretary for the National Pensioner Convention and Alexandra Woodsworth from the Campaign for Better Transport.

Mr Kavanagh continues: “Unite is delighted that other campaign groups have joined the fight against the cuts and are supporting the lobby. It’s hugely important to establish a link between those who use the services and the professional staff who deliver them. Buses keep our city moving - we must fight to defend them.”

ENDS

For further information contact: Peter Kavanagh, Unite official, on 07980 721422 or Jody Whitehill, Unite press office, on 020 7420 8938 or 07768 693956

Notes to editors:

Unite members with flags and placards and the Unite Latino drum band will gather outside City Hall from 9.30am with a possible appearance from a Boris Johnson look-alike.