Many bus drivers walk out of GWU

Bus drivers are working like “slaves”, according to the president of a new union set up by Arriva employees exactly one year to the day from when the revam­ped bus service was rolled out.

I prefer the old system, now we work more and get less

“We’re paid a pittance – just a bit more than the minimum wage – despite a risky job where we’re responsible for busloads of passengers,” driver Samuel Grech, president of the Public Transport Union, told The Times.

The 41-year old, who had been a bus driver for seven years within the old network before joining Arriva, said the reform of the bus service was needed but “should not have been implemented the way it was”.

“I prefer the previous system. Today we work more and get paid less,” he added.

The beginning of a new era in public transport has throughout the year been tarnished by threats of strike action over working hours and other issues, including lack of air conditioning on some vehicles.

Only last week, the General Workers’ Union ordered its members not to drive buses without air-conditioning units.

The union is also in discussion with Arriva over salary and working conditions.

But some Arriva drivers lost hope in the GWU and have set up their own, in-house registered union.

Mr Grech said some 170 employees had joined before yesterday.

There are about 750 bus drivers, about 480 of whom had been registered with the GWU since last July.

“Up until today, the GWU holds the major representation of Arriva employees. This morning, general secretary Tony Zarb received 100 individually signed resignation letters,” he said, adding more employees were willing to resign in the coming days.

Mr Grech said the majority of Arriva employees did not agree with the collective agreement the GWU had discussed with Arriva. They also expressed their disappointment at the GWU’s “unprofessional” approach, he added.

But the GWU yesterday said that as a “serious union” it could not make irresponsible promises, similar to the ones made by those who were enticing others to leave.

It said these people were telling employees they were ready to obtain a 60 per cent increase in salary within the first year of the collective agreement, adding it was going through the resignation letters and could not yet provide the number of Arriva employees now registered with it.

Despite these resignations, GWU said it would still have an absolute majority of Arriva employees, and some had already contacted the union to withdraw their resignation.

The GWU warned Arriva employees to be wary of wild promises and to remain united in these challenging times. But Mr Grech insisted that despite trying their best and working hard, they had always found someone, from either the GWU or Arriva, who tried to trip them up.

They hope that, with the new union, they will be “one family” and discuss their concerns as a united group.

“Only an employee can understand what he’s going through,” Mr Grech said, adding that the GWU did the opposite of what workers wanted when it came to working conditions.

“We’ve seen little change since last year. We’ve got less frequent split shifts, but sometimes it feels as if we’re working longer hours.

“Only the other day, I worked from 9 a.m. till 7 p.m., and then I had to spend a whole 90 minutes to fill the bus with petrol,” he said.