DEFEND ABDUL OMER CAMPAIGN
STOP THE UNION-BUSTERS
AT SOVEREIGN BUSES
Colleagues,
O
n March 31st, I was sacked for
being an effective union rep at
Sovereign buses.
Sovereign Buses is owned alongside
London United by the Transdev group.
I began working at London United in
February 2003 before joining Sovereign
Buses in July 2007.
The wages at Sovereign were about
£4,000 less than those paid at London
United.
When I joined Sovereign, I made my
colleagues aware of the huge gap in wages
and we began to campaign for parity.
The drivers at Harrow and Edgware
garages rejected the pay offer in 2008 and
voted for strike action. I was elected as a
rep in October 2008 in the Harrow garage.
At this time we had only 39 members of
UNITE out of 120 drivers.
Once I became the rep membership
increased throughout the garage.
In August 2009, I was elected convenor
for both Harrow and Edgware garages.
A couple of weeks after my election, the
management tried to impose new rotas on
one of our routes at Edgware.
Drivers walked out unofficially. Within
hours the company agreed to negotiate
any proposed changes with UNITE. The
company also agreed to reimburse all of
the members involved in the unofficial
action. Following this dispute the pay talks
in October 2009 resulted in a timetable
for significant salary increases, new
SUPPORT FLOODS IN
Abdul Omer has already received
dozens of messages of support.
These include four members of
the Unite national executive, Rob
Williams from Unite at Linamar,
Dave Smith from Unite at First in
Sheffield, Sara Bennett from Unite at
CUP, and Paul Brandon from Unite at
Metroline Holloway.
The list also includes three trades
councils and the Right to Work
campaign and the NSSN.
Omer on the picket line
agreements on pensions, bonuses and sick
pay for drivers in both garages.
Once the timetable is concluded, drivers
at Sovereign will have parity with those at
London United.
Racism
When the racist English Defence League
tried to march on the Harrow mosque
in September, UNITE called on all our
members to support the Unite Against
Fascism counter mobilisation.
In the Harrow garage we advertised
the UAF demo from the union office. We
mobilised 20 drivers from Sovereign to
support the counter protest.
The demonstration was a huge success
and was one of the proudest days of my
life.
In September the Company removed
our UAF poster from the union office. It
took until November to get it back. An
incident followed involving the poster
which resulted in me being suspended.
No action was taken against me and I was
reinstated.
One week after my return in February, I
represented a black engineer from Harrow
who alleged he faced racial harassment.
The company has agreed to organise a
race awareness course in engineering, so
clearly there is a problem. The engineer’s
grievance alleged institutional racism. I
represented the engineer, and challenged
the Company’s line of questioning and
attitude to racism at the hearing. I also
challenged witnesses’ account of events.
For this I am accused of intimidating
witnesses. Yet, none of the witnesses
complained.
I denied these charges with the support
of Unite’s Regional Industrial Organiser
but was sacked—for robustly defending
another trade union member.
I have been subjected to all sorts of
harassment at Sovereign since I became
a rep. Once this proved unsuccessful,
they decided to dismiss me.
If Sovereign can sack a union
convenor for being effective, this will
encourage other bus operators to do
likewise. I am asking you to support
our union at Sovereign and support the
campaign for my reinstatement.
In comradeship,
Abdul Omer Moshin
WHAT NEXT?
!Unite needs to act on the Harrow
branch call for an official strike
ballot. This can’t wait until Omer’s
disciplinary process is exhausted.
!Call on Unite to organise a protest
at Sovereign’s HQ in Twickenham
!Contact Sovereign to demand
Omer’s reinstatement. Email Paul
Matthews, managing director London
Sovereign at customer@londonutd.
co.uk
!Send messages of support to
defendabdulomer@yahoo.co.uk
!For more information, contact
07973 640 057 or Busworker