buses
News and articles about work, policy and workers' struggles in transport and distribution around the world.
Bus drivers wildcat against 'spy' CCTV
Bus drivers in North West London took wildcat action last week and refused to leave their garage in protest against management bullying and 'spy' cameras in their cabs.
Rob Bleaney and Andrew Brightwell reported on hamhigh.co.uk:
Furious bus drivers walked out this week after bosses put spy cameras into their cabs.
Passengers waiting for buses on the 31 route to Camden and the 328 route to Golders Green were left stranded on Tuesday morning as drivers refused to leave their bus garage until 8.30am.
The strike that shut down New York
A report and analysis of the strike of New York City transport staff that shut down the city for three days, and brought down all the government's anti-union laws on the workers. Despite this, strikers managed to win important concessions.
New York City’s nearly 34,000 transit workers shut down the country’s largest public transportation system last month in a three-day strike that became a battle between working-class New Yorkers and the bosses, politicians and ruling elite of the city.
Appeal from sacked Tehran transport workers
Organising efforts by the Syndicate of Workers Of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company in the Vahed Bus Company have resulted in the dismissal of 17 union activists.
The union is calling for solidarity in the face of what it describes as the company’s extremely harsh reaction to the workers organising efforts.
As well as the dismissals many have been harassed and have undergone interrogations at the hands of the Company’s security forces.
NYC transport workers fighting cuts fined
A judge has imposed a $1m (£570,000) per day fine on New York's main transport union for a strike that has brought city transport to a standstill.
34,000 New York City transport workers are on an illegal strike, shutting down the entire city's transit system to oppose benefit cuts, despite large profits. Their Transport Workers Union is now being fined $1m per day that the strike continues.
From http://news.bbc.co.uk:
The 34,000 members of the Transport Workers Union went on strike after talks over their contracts collapsed.
First Bus drivers' sixth strike
First Bus drivers in north Staffordshire and south Cheshire are on their sixth one-day strike, part of an ongoing pay dispute.
First drivers are demanding to be paid the same amount as their colleagues around the country.
The company has offered to raise the current £6.60 hourly rate. But the offer has so far been dependent on other conditions being imposed.
The Transport and General Workers' Union said strikes have also been planned for 7, 19 and 21 November.
Fighting the fare hike in San Francisco
A report on organising that is going on here in San Francisco against the rise in fares for buses and trams.
Back in April the MTA Board, which runs Muni (the bus and streetcar system in San Francisco) voted to increase the transit fare from $1.25 to $1.50, to cut service on many bus lines, and to lay off about 200 drivers. This Thursday, Sept 1, is when the fare hike is supposed to go into effect. This is the second fare hike in two years. Since 2003 the fare has gone up 50 percent.
Thousands ride free in San Francisco transport fight
Despite heavy police presence at major bus transfer points, at least a couple thousand passengers rode the buses for free in San Francisco on Thursday, September 1st — the opening day of a fare strike in North America’s most bus-intensive city.
In the days leading up to September 1st, more than 50 people were actively organizing for the fare strike, with new groups endorsing the effort in the last week. More than 20,000 leaflets had been distributed and 10,000 stickers were attached to bus shelters and poles throughout the city — in Spanish and Chinese as well as English.
