Strike for heatwave protection

Bus workers in Arriva North London have rejected a first management offer and are continuing their strikes.

Their main demand is that all buses are fitted with sufficient and effective air conditioning units. Temperatures in cabs have soared into the high 40s during the heatwaves.

The rejected offer was to fit the units by some time in 2027. But it was brought to the table after only two days of action. There are many more planned, and the mandate runs for another 12 months. Drivers are in a good position to use their power to force the employers’ hand. The upcoming Piccadilly Line Tube closures for engineering upgrades mean the workers are able to apply even more pressure.

The strike has been strong. Drivers have reported that only four out of 200 have crossed the picket lines at Wood Green, and the dispute is strong elsewhere too.

What remains to be seen, certainly from the official communications from the drivers’ union, Unite, is what is happening to the reps and drivers who were suspended and sacked during unofficial action. A driver has told us that if they refuse to take unsafe buses out, or take more than the 15 minutes allowed for heat breaks, they face being signed out as sick by management, with the attendance policy being used later. That is one of the issues that is being negotiated on during the dispute.

Maintenance

Workers’ Liberty activists have visited picket lines and talked through the issues with drivers. There are still measures in place from the Covid pandemic, less effective cooling supposedly better for minimising virus transmission but unable to cope with the higher temperatures.

One driver told Solidarity: “It is not a matter of retrofitting. The oldest of the buses is from 2015. It’s that the buses have not been properly maintained”. This is repeated from discussions with drivers at different depots.

Arriva is making enormous profits, yet spend little on maintenance and upgrades, while  workers’ pay and conditions have worsened. Drivers already are well aware of this, with some calling for the buses to be directly operated by Transport for London, giving them the ability for collective action on the whole network, for all drivers.

Workers on the network are all to aware of the issues. “We have drivers from Bangladesh, where the buses have air-conditioning. London is the financial capital, and we cannot make buses safe and comfortable”, said one driver at Palmers Green, adding that “management don’t care about passenger safety or driver comfort — it’s insulting”.

If the union is not going to spread the dispute, rank and file activists can. Long range forecasts are for another heat wave in September. Organising around these issues doesn’t have to wait until the hot weather arrives. Workers can and should be taking pre-emptive action to win mitigations. The lessons learned in struggle can and will develop workers to think about fighting for pay and better conditions.