www.socialistworker.co.

uk

a Magnificent
vote for action!
T

he 96% vote for action by Unite

members on Londons buses is a
sign of the anger that drivers feel
over pay and conditions.
Drivers have experienced years of
below inflation pay rises as the pay gap
has grown both between companies
and within companies where new
starter rates drag on for years. There has
been a race to the bottom.
You dont have to be an expert
to realise that privatisation and
negotiations with multiple employers
means its the workers who suffer.
Tube workers have one set of
negotiations, but we have 17!
The union has argued for central
bargaining for a long time. Drivers
protested through central London in
September to demand it. Now with
this vote Unite has an overwhelming
mandate to fight to get it.

Coordinated action works

Coordinated action across the capital

over pay works. We saw that during
the 2012 strikes to win the Olympic
bonus.
Back then it seemed that everyone
except bus drivers was going to get the
bonus. They thought they could walk
over us. But they were wrong.
We won the bonus with hardhitting strikes. Many drivers felt that
more action could have won an even
better deal.

Its our right to strike

In 2012 it was good that Unite

targeted Arriva the Shires, Go-Ahead
London General and Metroline with
protests when they ran to the courts.
In 2008 legal action was used
to derail co-ordinated strikes by
thousands of London busworkers who
had voted to walk out together.

The employers have to know that

they wont be allowed to play fast and
loose with our democratic right to
strike.

We need action now

Its really important that the 96% vote

for strikes is turned into action as
soon as possible.
Momentum is key, especially at a
time when Unite is winning victories
in the capital. Unite members at
the housing Charity St Mungos
Broadway have just won a stunning
victory, driving back a huge assault on
their terms and conditions.
The fight for decent pay and
conditions on the buses is part of the
wider fight against austerity.
The Tories and the bosses are
still trying to make us pay for their
economic crisis.
Theyre smashing up our public
services and driving down our living
standards all to enrich themselves.
But to divert our anger they are
playing their classic game of divide
and rule scapegoating migrant
workers at every opportunity.
UKIP is leading the charge, with
the Tories close behind. But far
too often Labour echoes their vile
arguments.

United action on the London

buses is the best way to win one rate
for the job.
Its also the best way to overcome
the scapegoating and build the kind
of unity among working people that
we need.
Unite the Resistance conference

Striking together
& organising to win
Saturday
15 November,
12 - 5pm
@ Bloomsbury
Central Baptist
Church, 235
Shaftesbury Avenue,
London WC2H 8EP
Sessions include
Strategies to win:
How do we beat the
austerity agenda?
The fight against
zero hours contracts
and organising the
unorganised
Migrant workers:
part of the union,
part of the solution
After the strikes:
where next for the
fight to save the
NHS?

Speakers include
Matt Wrack
FBU general secretary
Mags Dalton & Roger
Hutt Care UK strikers
John McDonnell MP
Ian Hodson BFAWU
national president
Peter Pinkney
RMT president
Fast food strikers
from the US
Karen Howell
Support Stafford
Hospital campaign
Paula Peters
Disabled People
Against the Cuts
Ian Lawrence
NAPO general
secretary
Barbara Pokryszka
Unite, hotel worker
organiser

For more info and to book go to uniteresist.org

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