Socialist Party members
On 9 and 10 January, bus drivers at Lea Interchange garage in east London were on strike again against victimisation of Unite reps.
In the run-up, it was reported that management were looking to bring in bus drivers from outside to try to break the strike, in a blatant attempt to maintain bullying management in the bus garage, and hold down wages.
But the workforce stood strong. The strikers only spotted one driver from their own depot working during the rush hour, the rest were managers, some other Stagecoach employees who weren’t part of the ballot, and some drivers sent from other depots. Strikers told us that bosses had been desperately trying to get those people up to speed on the routes, but on the strike days there was a garage full of unused buses.
Bosses’ strike-breaking efforts can be defeated
Pickets were inspired to hear that in the year-long Birmingham bin strike, Unite has recruited agency workers brought in by management to undermine the strike, and many of these have joined the action.
The whole trade union movement must come to the aid of the bus workers. The Lea Interchange Unite reps, Waltham Forest Trades Council and Socialist Party members have been working hard to make contact with other garages and build solidarity among the trade union movement in the borough and among bus passengers.
Addressing the pickets, one rep said: “The management say they haven’t got the money [to settle our 2025 pay rise] but they’ve got plenty of money to pay people to do our job for us today. But there’s not many – buses are still here in the garage.”
A Unite branch organiser told strikers: “We send solidarity to the Cambridge Stagecoach drivers who are also on strike right now. Stagecoach is in trouble, because a lot of the garages are saying, ‘Why aren’t we on strike too?’ Drivers in Go Ahead, Metroline, they’re watching. Unite members at Bow garage are now balloting.
“Across all these privatised companies you see the same thing: the bosses are trying to attack the leaders of the workplaces that stand up to the bosses on behalf of the workers.”
Bringing solidarity from the National Shop Stewards Network, Rob Williams said: “It’s no secret why they go for shop stewards, because if they discipline or suspend union reps they’re trying to make the union weaker. But the opposite is true as well. Because you have been prepared to fight for your union reps, you’re going to win a victory against bullying management, and after that you’re going to be in a better place to get the pay rise.
“Managers are trying to break the strike, but look at all the buses in the garage – they’re not breaking this strike. Our answer is union solidarity.”
Rob explained that he spoke to the driver of a bus that came out earlier, and said to her: “Have a look at the people on this side of the road. They’re your friends. The management, they’re not your friends. If they were your friends they’d have sorted the pay rise out in April.”
Socialist Party member Linda Taaffe described the campaign of pensioners in both Waltham Forest and Hackney in support of the strike. “We’ve given out 3,000 leaflets on the buses. We got on the buses and spoke to the drivers, and they all bar one took a leaflet. When we gave leaflets to the passengers they were all reading them. Several times I did a little pop-up meeting and addressed the passengers and talked about the bad management. They all knew what we meant – all workers face this every day of their lives.”
A striker told Martin Reynolds: “The union is doing a very good job here. The union is ready to negotiate, but management are not listening. We all feel very disappointed getting treated like this by such a big company. We are the backbone of the company – without us, nothing moves.”
Unite executive elections: Future of the union at stake
Nominations have opened for the Unite Executive Council elections.
The industrial and political approach of the union is at stake in these elections, which take place as Keir Starmer’s Labour government steps up anti-working class austerity.
Socialist Party members are standing on the left ‘Workers Unite’ slate, that supports the manifesto on which Sharon Graham was elected as general secretary in 2021.
The slate includes fellow supporters of the Unite Broad Left, including:
- South West: sitting EC member Suzanne Muna
- London and Eastern: Len Hockey
- Construction, allied trades and technicians: Dave Walsh
- Community, youth workers and not-for-profit: Tanis Belsham-Wray
- LGBT+: John Williams
- Young members: Oisin Mulholland
- Local authorities: Kathy Smith
See the full list of candidates at backtotheworkplace.org
