Bus drivers strike over Olympic payments

Many of London’s public transport workers have negotiated additional payments for working during the Olympic Games, which begin in the capital at the end of July 2012. However, London’s bus drivers have not been offered a bonus despite the claims of union Unite that they face a ‘massive increase’ in workload. Drivers from 17 bus companies took part in a one-day strike in June in support of their bonus claim, and Unite threatens further industrial action, perhaps even during the Games.

Background

The Olympic Games are being held in London from 27 July to 12 August 2012, with the Paralympic Games taking place between 29 August and 9 September. The total number of visitors to London expected during the Olympics has been estimated at upwards of six million. Transport for London (TfL), which oversees public transport in the capital, predicts an additional three million journeys a day on the system during the Games.

Given the strain likely to be put on public transport during the Olympics and Paralympics, trade unions representing transport staff in London have sought additional payments for the expected increase in workload.

Olympic bonuses for rail workers

Union efforts to win Olympic bonuses for their members have been largely successful on the rail network in London and routes serving the capital. Deals reported by the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT), the largest rail union, include the following:

• on the Docklands Light Railway (a main route to many of the Olympic sites), an attendance payment of GBP 900 (about €1,121 as at 4 July 2012) and guaranteed overtime payments for all staff, bringing the potential value of the deal to GBP 2,500 (€3,115) per employee;

• a payment of GBP 700 (€872) for employees on the Heathrow Express airport link service, plus the opportunity to earn additional payments on a voluntary basis;

• a minimum guaranteed GBP 600 (€748) at London Overground, with more for most staff;

• GBP 500 (€623) for staff at the Virgin Rail operating company, and the same amount for employees at the National Rail infrastructure provider;

• a GBP 400 (€498) bonus for hourly-paid cleaners working on a contract for Virgin/Alstom West Coast.

At London Underground, an ‘Olympic reward and recognition’ agreement was reached for maintenance, stations and service control staff and operational managers in May 2012. The RMT agreed to the deal only after a lengthy dispute.

According to TfL, the agreement gives all employees concerned a one-off payment of GBP 350 (€436) in recognition of ‘agreeing to work more flexibly’ over the Olympic/Paralympic period. They will also be eligible for attendance allowances worth up to GBP 400 over the period, and a GBP 100 (€125) bonus depending on customer service satisfaction scores.

An agreement for drivers reached in September 2011 contains similar provisions, but stipulates a lump sum of GBP 500 rather than GBP 350, in recognition of a temporary change to working agreements, and also provides for overtime payments.

The unions recognised at London Underground are RMT, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) and Unite the Union.

Outside the rail sector, employees at airports operator BAA are reportedly being awarded an Olympic bonus of up to GBP 1,200 (€1,495.10).

Bus drivers’ dispute

In contrast to the success achieved by rail unions, London’s 24,000 bus drivers are the only transport workers in the city who have so far not been awarded any Olympic payments. Unite is the main union representing this group, and the union’s London Regional Secretary Peter Kavanagh said in a press statement:

…the bus operators need to take their heads out of the sand and recognise the massive increase in work that bus workers will face during the games.

The union is demanding a GBP 500 (€622.96) lump-sum payment for all bus workers.

In May, Unite held balloted members at 21 London bus operating companies to ask whether they wanted to take industrial action in support of the Olympic bonus claim. The result, announced on 9 June, was a 94% vote in favour of a strike, on a turn-out of 38%. Unite organised a 24-hour strike for 22 June. Workers at 17 companies took part in the action, causing major disruption to bus services. Four companies had obtained court injunctions preventing action by their staff, alleging irregularities in the ballot process.

Meanwhile, Unite has threatened further action up to and during the Games if no deal is reached.

The union has called for TfL to intervene in the dispute, but TfL argues that pay and conditions are a matter for the individual bus operators. However, it has commented that a general GBP 500 payment for all bus workers would involve ‘a bill of GBP 12 million [€14.95 million] for no additional work’.

Leon Daniels, TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport, claimed 70% of London’s local bus services would not be affected by the Games. In a statement, he accused Unite of seeking to exploit the event by ‘adding a further multi-million pound burden to the hard-pressed farepayers and taxpayers of London’.

In the run-up to the strike, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) offered GBP 8.3 million (€10.34 million) to help settle the dispute, to provide bonuses only for workers at depots with routes considered to be affected by the Games.

Commentary

Some commentators have suggested – though the idea is rejected by unions – that the Olympic bonuses for employees at London Underground and other parts of the rail network were in effect ‘no-strike’ payments to avoid disputes during the Games in a sector that experiences above-average levels of conflict. Bus transport is a considerably less strike-prone industry, and the action on 22 June was the first London-wide bus strike since 1982.

Mark Carley, IRRU/SPIRE Associates