Socialist Fight

PO Box 59188, London, NW2 9LJ, Socialist_Fight@yahoo.co.uk

Sovereign Busworkers under attack Remove Sell-out Unite RIO Wayne King!

e are all aware of the attacks on London bus-drivers pay and conditions and on the fightback which has emerged. The sacking of Abdul Omer as Convenor of Sovereign buses, with garages in Harrow and Edgware, in March 2010 was a central part of that attack. He lost his Employment Tribunal case in early November 2011. The judge at the Employment Tribunal ruled that Unite Regional Industrial Organiser (RIO) Wayne King was a liar and that on the balance of probability he must be lying for Omer. This cannot be true since the relationship between the two of them broke down after King gave away everything that was won for the members. Omer told his support- Abdul Omer (far right) campaigning for Irish political prisoners last Summer. ers at the Employment Tribunal that Wayne is Omer has only recently been able to return home from a consistent liar but he is not his liar he is the comhospital. Meantime the employers have pressed forpanys liar and promised his supporters at the court ward with their attacks on all fronts. Unite has refused that he will put out a statement on this but he was to hold a strike ballot over the sacking of the Convenor, taken to hospital the next day with a heart attack and despite workplace ballots and motions passed by the he still remains very ill. two garages supporting a strike. But the drivers have Sovereign buses was the lowest paid in London when rebelled over the cancellation of their parity agreeOmer became Convenor and he negotiated parity with ment, and Unite finally agreed to carry out a legal the parent company, London United, with eight gapostal ballot for industrial action on the 2011 pay offer, rages in Fulwell, Hounslow, Hounslow Heath, Shepwhich they had rejected twice in garage ballots. herd's Bush, Stamford Brook, Park Royal, Tolworth and Twickenham. This parity deal amounted to a 4,000 pa Release the Strike Ballot result! increase over three years. The result of the strike ballot on pay was due on 27 DeAfter his sacking and even before his appeal in April cember 2012. Sovereign sought to circumvent this by 2010 RIO Wayne King negotiated the annulment of that approaching individual drivers with the 2% deal backpay parity agreement, so Sovereign are still the lowest dated to July 2011 which would have given the drivers paid drivers, with the possible exception of Abellio now. an average of 235 backdated pay for Christmas but He gave away all the gains and he explained to the Re- which included a no strike clause. They claimed many gional Sector Committee for the transport sector of drivers accepted. which Omer is an elected member that Unite the union The new drivers in particular are getting a raw deal in have offered the company a self funded pay rise in this offer. When Omer was Convenor he negotiated a 2010 which is fact was a pay cut. 14% increase and a reduction of the probationary peHis report to the Committee declared that Unite gave riod from 1 year to six months for parity with London the gains to the company in consideration to the com- United for these. The 14% is eliminated now and the pany's financial difficulties. Mr King only admitted this probationary period has been increased to a year with under enormous pressure from Omer. The relation be- a new two years grade introduced from Dec. 2012. tween Omer and Wayne then broke down.

All conditions are now worse for the drivers than when Omer became Convenor three years ago. One of his supporters says that Omer told them at a meeting at his home that Wayne King is giving away all the major gains that he had won for his members, he is putting the last nail in the coffin of the parity agreement. He told them to resist this more than anything else. A mass meeting was called in the middle of December and Wayne King, as one driver said, came from nowhere to take the fight out of the members and manage it. King kept the meeting waiting for fifty minutes until they began dispersing while he negotiated with the managers. He returned to tell them that, as a large number of drivers had signed the no strike deal the result of the Electoral Reform Societys ballot would therefore be invalid. Uproar ensued. Member shouted at him that Unite was a management union, there was a call for everyone to leave the union and after a lot more abuse he left the meeting. Up to eight petitions then began circulating in the two garages, demanding the resignation of the two reps amongst other things.

Grass Roots Left

Grass Roots Left is a national group of Unite members dedicated to fighting against bureaucracy and for rank and file control of the union. We say Sovereign drivers can still win by taking the following urgent action: Dont leave Unite only by staying in the union can we get the ballot results and hit back. Also, in the future, we will need co-ordinated strike action across the bus companies to stop the race to the bottom. Convene meetings in Edgware and Harrow, and pass a resolution saying that drivers do not accept the pay deal and will fight on for the full claim and bro. Omers reinstatement. They should denounce the company for intimidating drivers into signing up to the deal and deny its validity. If possible, follow this up with a petition . In addition, demand Wayne King answers for his actions and is removed from his position in charge of the buses. Demand Unite releases the result of the ballot to the members and convenes a meeting of members including those who may have temporarily left in disgust to ask them what they would like to do.

Remove Wayne King as RIO

This action of Wayne King should lead to his removal as a Unite RIO. In the first place a contract with a no strike clause is void as it is illegal and cannot be enforced, in the second place the company cannot pay the drivers that have signed one rate and the others another, and thirdly no proof was offered that a large number of drivers had signed up, no figures were given. King had effectively negotiated de-recognition of Unite in Sovereign. This was in contrast to the position taken by Jim Buckley, another Unite RIO, who had put a stop to this underhand tactic in 2008, correctly observing that it amounted to de-recognition of the union. The company was forced to back down on that occasion and the revolt of the drivers now has had that same effect. Following the revolt against King Sovereign wrote to all drivers saying the company accepted collective bargaining and working with the trade union. It proposed a two year deal of 3.1% from December 2012, the new anniversary date, but this would not apply to work rest days or overtime rates which remain the same. Of course this is still below the rate of inflation and so should be rejected by the drivers; they must still demand parity with London United.

In Sovereign;
1. Do not leave Unite; return to the union to fight the sell-out misleaders and reinstate Abdul Omer! 2. Release the result of the strike ballot! 4. Reject the pay offer; parity with London United! 5. Remove Wayne King as RIO at Sovereign!

And for all London busworkers,

1. Wage settlements pegged to the rate of inflation! 2. One wage rate and one set of conditions throughout London! 3. End Competitive Tendering! 4. Renationalise the buses! 5. Build the Grass Roots Left in every garage to oust the corrupt sell-out TU bureaucrats!

Wayne King and the new Acting Convenor, Jamil Abbasi For more information on Sovereign and to assist the have pressed ahead with this new offer, refusing still to campaign contact sacked Convenor Abdul Omer Mohreveal the result of the strike ballot. They hope to push sin on 07830 424 395, OmerMohsin the deal through in garage ballots after meetings. <Omermohsin2@yahoo.co.uk>; 3/1/2012