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Post by daveb0789 on Jan 30, 2015 6:56:59 GMT
Watch out for underhand tactics. They might try and start routelearning pcv licence holders to drive strike busting vehicles on those days.
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Post by lonmark on Jan 30, 2015 8:01:48 GMT
Heard it say if all bus company argee with same rates bus driver pay wages then TfL end up pay £100 millions more but will lead to cut all the services which mean bus drivers will may lose the job?
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Post by sid on Jan 30, 2015 10:16:00 GMT
Unite say on their website that they represent up to 27,000 London Bus Drivers. That looks to be a very sizeable proportion as I expect there only about 30,000 drivers in total. The numbers voting are not huge. TfL have said only 16% voted in favour. If your look at this detailed report from Unite it shows the numbers voting per company and the proportions of yes and no. In round terms the average across the companies of those who voted and also voted yes is 88%. 12% voted no. If you look at the numbers of total votes per company then there looks to me to be a great deal of apathy as the turnout was very low. I am sure all drivers feel very strongly about the issue but it looks to me that those feelings did not turn into actually voting. IIRC there were remarks from a few people on here who are drivers that they weren't even asked to vote despite being in the union. That looks pretty useless to me if the union couldn't or didn't ensure that drivers knew when and where to vote. Yes, I was one who didn't get to vote as it never came through the post It does seem odd. I been meaning to find out why that is but always forgotten to ask when I get to work. Had the ballot came then I would of voted yes. Unfortunately, I will be going out on strike on all 3 days if needed. The fear of starting again on the lower wages should I ever need to leave the job is still there. I'm also worried with Abellio actions to bring in drivers from Romania just so they can drive the buses on the 109 and pay them £8ph. If its successful then I'm sure they bring in more and pay them similar rates. Soon, the rest of us living here already will have to follow suit. I don't know much about politics but I know that Unite have been campaigning for a few years or so about the race to the bottom. Companies outbidding other companies to gain routes and then employing drivers from different countries on much smaller wages. Is that what we want? Drivers who are unfamiliar with our roads and passengers getting mislead by drivers such as the passenger who boarded a 211 and asked if he goes to Lambeth Bridge. The driver's reply was 'Yes, I go to the bridge' and took her to Westminster Another thing to look at is the Olympics. Most (if not all) of the other transport workers were getting bonuses but not us bus drivers. It took us one strike and another threat of strikes before finally some kind of negotiation took place. Even though we finally got the bonus, it still left a bad taste in my mouth Does the lower pay rate apply to all new recruits? I was under the impression (maybe wrongly?) that the lower rate only applied to non PCV licence holders who had to be trained from scratch? The cost of the training and the fact many leave again within a short period of time was given as one of the reasons although it's a bit of a vicious circle, if the pay rate was higher then not so many would leave again within a short period of time Recruitin cheap labour from Eastern Europe is a common tactic nowadays, it's been going on in many other industries for a few years now
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Post by londonbusboy on Jan 30, 2015 18:36:21 GMT
People remember the strikes are not just about pay! its also the terms and conditions i.e paid start to finish/paid driving hours, hours a week etc.
I am not 100% on this if i am wrong please someone just say but i swear TUPE conditions have changed more recently in that you keep your old contract for a year or two before signing a contract with the new company? Surely this would mean highly paid drivers would have to take a drop in wages?
Drivers that were TUPE'd years ago keep their conditions for ever pretty much?
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Post by Steve80 on Jan 31, 2015 5:47:34 GMT
Yes, I was one who didn't get to vote as it never came through the post It does seem odd. I been meaning to find out why that is but always forgotten to ask when I get to work. Had the ballot came then I would of voted yes. Unfortunately, I will be going out on strike on all 3 days if needed. The fear of starting again on the lower wages should I ever need to leave the job is still there. I'm also worried with Abellio actions to bring in drivers from Romania just so they can drive the buses on the 109 and pay them £8ph. If its successful then I'm sure they bring in more and pay them similar rates. Soon, the rest of us living here already will have to follow suit. I don't know much about politics but I know that Unite have been campaigning for a few years or so about the race to the bottom. Companies outbidding other companies to gain routes and then employing drivers from different countries on much smaller wages. Is that what we want? Drivers who are unfamiliar with our roads and passengers getting mislead by drivers such as the passenger who boarded a 211 and asked if he goes to Lambeth Bridge. The driver's reply was 'Yes, I go to the bridge' and took her to Westminster Another thing to look at is the Olympics. Most (if not all) of the other transport workers were getting bonuses but not us bus drivers. It took us one strike and another threat of strikes before finally some kind of negotiation took place. Even though we finally got the bonus, it still left a bad taste in my mouth Does the lower pay rate apply to all new recruits? I was under the impression (maybe wrongly?) that the lower rate only applied to non PCV licence holders who had to be trained from scratch? The cost of the training and the fact many leave again within a short period of time was given as one of the reasons although it's a bit of a vicious circle, if the pay rate was higher then not so many would leave again within a short period of time Recruitin cheap labour from Eastern Europe is a common tactic nowadays, it's been going on in many other industries for a few years now Yes, with Abellio the starter rate applies to both PCV and no PCV holders. I believe that Metrobus has different pay for PCV and non PCV license holders. I've no idea about the other companies.
Somewhere in the internet, someone has put this up. Didn't know you have to wait upto 8 years to get the top rate if your an driver for Arriva...
Attachment Deleted
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Post by sid on Jan 31, 2015 11:04:50 GMT
Does the lower pay rate apply to all new recruits? I was under the impression (maybe wrongly?) that the lower rate only applied to non PCV licence holders who had to be trained from scratch? The cost of the training and the fact many leave again within a short period of time was given as one of the reasons although it's a bit of a vicious circle, if the pay rate was higher then not so many would leave again within a short period of time Recruitin cheap labour from Eastern Europe is a common tactic nowadays, it's been going on in many other industries for a few years now Yes, with Abellio the starter rate applies to both PCV and no PCV holders. I believe that Metrobus has different pay for PCV and non PCV license holders. I've no idea about the other companies.
Somewhere in the internet, someone has put this up. Didn't know you have to wait upto 8 years to get the top rate if your an driver for Arriva...
No wonder Arriva are having such trouble recruiting and retaining drivers, £9.30 for the first 8 years! I thought it would be for the first 6 months which would be bad enough
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Post by sid on Jan 31, 2015 11:06:54 GMT
People remember the strikes are not just about pay! its also the terms and conditions i.e paid start to finish/paid driving hours, hours a week etc. I am not 100% on this if i am wrong please someone just say but i swear TUPE conditions have changed more recently in that you keep your old contract for a year or two before signing a contract with the new company? Surely this would mean highly paid drivers would have to take a drop in wages? Drivers that were TUPE'd years ago keep their conditions for ever pretty much? I seem to remember reading somewhere that TUPE pay and conditions only apply for a certain period of time?
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Post by M1104 on Jan 31, 2015 12:21:53 GMT
People remember the strikes are not just about pay! its also the terms and conditions i.e paid start to finish/paid driving hours, hours a week etc. I am not 100% on this if i am wrong please someone just say but i swear TUPE conditions have changed more recently in that you keep your old contract for a year or two before signing a contract with the new company? Surely this would mean highly paid drivers would have to take a drop in wages? Drivers that were TUPE'd years ago keep their conditions for ever pretty much? I seem to remember reading somewhere that TUPE pay and conditions only apply for a certain period of time? That's what i thought. Isn't it only for 2 years?
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Post by M1104 on Jan 31, 2015 12:26:56 GMT
Yes, with Abellio the starter rate applies to both PCV and no PCV holders. I believe that Metrobus has different pay for PCV and non PCV license holders. I've no idea about the other companies.
Somewhere in the internet, someone has put this up. Didn't know you have to wait upto 8 years to get the top rate if your an driver for Arriva...
No wonder Arriva are having such trouble recruiting and retaining drivers, £9.30 for the first 8 years! I thought it would be for the first 6 months which would be bad enough 8 years is a long time. Regarding the low hourly rate i believe Arriva still pay sign on to sign off, pay fully on spreadovers and have quite an enhance rate (time and a quarter?) for weekend and unsocial hours. From what i was told that equates to more or less the same weekly wages as other London bus firms on a starter rate.
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Post by lonmark on Feb 2, 2015 15:52:30 GMT
I take that this Thursday 5th Feb is still go ahead with the bus strike?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2015 17:11:21 GMT
Assuming the same amount of staff turn up should we expect similar services as last time? I know someone that needs a 147 on Thursday and this route had a pretty good service all day.
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Post by overgroundcommuter on Feb 2, 2015 20:41:11 GMT
I take that this Thursday 5th Feb is still go ahead with the bus strike? iBus is warning passengers as such from today.
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Post by snoggle on Feb 3, 2015 10:38:45 GMT
A tweet earlier from Tom Edwards (BBC London) that Tower Transit have asked for talks with the union. Looks like Tower Transit may not have the financial back up to withstand massive losses of TfL contract payments. An interesting development if my hunch, and it's no more than that, is correct.
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Post by westhamgeezer on Feb 4, 2015 13:22:40 GMT
I wonder how accurate TfL will be with their info tomorrow. I hope they do a lot better than last time! I did notice a tweet asking if route 724 (the greenline into heathrow) would be running. The response was the standard "we won't know until the day what services are running". They really should know that this won't be affected by the strike.
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Post by mondraker275 on Feb 4, 2015 17:53:57 GMT
A tweet earlier from Tom Edwards (BBC London) that Tower Transit have asked for talks with the union. Looks like Tower Transit may not have the financial back up to withstand massive losses of TfL contract payments. An interesting development if my hunch, and it's no more than that, is correct. Didn't the Head of Tower Transit say this during the initial strike in an ITV interview anyway. What can Tower Transit do anyway? they are looking for a collective agreement. THis strike and all the ones that follow will go ahead unless we have a miracle or TfL step in. If we get some snow during any of the strikes, it may get interesting as walking may be a tricky alternative!!! Let its snow, Let it snow Let it snow!!
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