LONDON — “No air con — no buses,” read signs held by striking bus drivers outside the Arriva North London garage in the Tottenham district here Aug. 14. Some 1,500 workers at eight garages walked out over intolerable work conditions imposed by the company bosses.
“No worker should be made ill by their job,” Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, said in a news release. This was the start of a series of walkouts to last through Oct. 20.
“Some drivers have faced 48.5 degrees Celsius [119 F] on the bus, and in the winter there is poor heating. The bosses have got away with this too long, but not anymore,” Tara Nash, secretary for the Unite branch at the Arriva North London garage in the Enfield district, told the Militant at its lively 40-strong picket line the same day.
“There has been massive support for our fight. Passengers know that we are fighting for them as well,” Nash said. “They are suffering from the same heat as us.” There are new electric buses with “air cooling,” but no air conditioning. Passing cars honked in support and strikers cheered back. Drivers said the big windscreen in front of them magnifies the sun’s heat so they feel like they’re sitting in a greenhouse.
On Aug. 17 Arriva made an offer and the next round of stoppages was suspended for workers to vote on it. They rejected it. “We’ve had promises in the past that the bosses reneged on. We want to see something tangible,” Peter Skinner, lead shop steward at Wood Green bus garage, told the Militant Aug. 25.