ANYONE WHO’S EVER got on a bus or train in the southwest, even once, will have learned at least one important fact. First Great Western are rip-off merchants. With fares on a constant sky-rocket, no noticeable improvements to (often late, patchy and overcrowded) services, and directors’ pay also on a steady, yet undeserved upward slant, it’s no wonder most passengers view First Group as the gangsters and capitalist con-artists that they are. But all the overcharging of customers must translate into more money for the workers, right? Wrong. First have recently slapped their bus workers in Devon and Cornwall with a new pay ‘offer’ which removes pay during the time workers spend getting from bus to bus, sabotages sick pay and pension schemes and bans ‘visual checks’ in which drivers check the condition of their bus mid-shift. The workers and the R.M.T. union flat out rejected the offer, with 85% voting for strike action until a respectable offer is tabled.
Making the link between mistreatment of workers and shoddy services, R.M.T. head honcho Bob Crow said “Bus service workers in the southwest will be taking action as the companies attempt to ramp up profits at the expense of the staff as well as the travelling public’. Too right Bob! And as the strikes get underway, it would be great to see words being turned into action, with staff and service users standing together against the racketeers before of First Great Western run our public transport all the way into the ground. Better yet would be if the strikers emulated their fellow drivers in Barcelona, who, during a recent strike, parked their buses across depot entrances, main roads and other choice locations, slashed the tyres and walked off with the keys!
