8/9/2019 Stop the union busters
1/1
Colleagues,
On March 31st, I was sacked forbeing an effective union rep
atSovereign buses.
Sovereign Buses is owned alongsideLondon United by the Transdev
group.I began working at London United inFebruary 2003 before
joining SovereignBuses in July 2007.
The wages at Sovereign were about4,000 less than those paid at
LondonUnited.
When I joined Sovereign, I made mycolleagues aware of the huge
gap in wagesand we began to campaign for parity.
The drivers at Harrow and Edgwaregarages rejected the pay offer
in 2008 andvoted for strike action. I was elected as a
rep in October 2008 in the Harrow garage.At this time we had
only 39 members ofUNITE out of 120 drivers.
Once I became the rep membershipincreased throughout the
garage.
In August 2009, I was elected convenorfor both Harrow and
Edgware garages.
A couple of weeks after my election, themanagement tried to
impose new rotas onone of our routes at Edgware.
Drivers walked out unofficially. Withinhours the company agreed
to negotiateany proposed changes with UNITE. The
company also agreed to reimburse all ofthe members involved in
the unofficialaction. Following this dispute the pay talksin
October 2009 resulted in a timetablefor significant salary
increases, new
STOP THE UNION-BUSTERSAT SOVEREIGN BUSES
agreements on pensions, bonuses and sickpay for drivers in both
garages.
Once the timetable is concluded, driversat Sovereign will have
parity with those atLondon United.
RacismWhen the racist English Defence Leaguetried to march on
the Harrow mosquein September, UNITE called on all ourmembers to
support the Unite AgainstFascism counter mobilisation.
In the Harrow garage we advertisedthe UAF demo from the union
office. Wemobilised 20 drivers from Sovereign to
support the counter protest.The demonstration was a huge
successand was one of the proudest days of mylife.
In September the Company removedour UAF poster from the union
office. Ittook until November to get it back. Anincident followed
involving the posterwhich resulted in me being suspended.No action
was taken against me and I wasreinstated.
One week after my return in February, Irepresented a black
engineer from Harrowwho alleged he faced racial harassment.
The company has agreed to organise arace awareness course in
engineering, soclearly there is a problem. The engineersgrievance
alleged institutional racism. Irepresented the engineer, and
challengedthe Companys line of questioning and
attitude to racism at the hearing. I alsochallenged witnesses
account of events.
For this I am accused of intimidatingwitnesses. Yet, none of the
witnessescomplained.
I denied these charges with the support
of Unites Regional Industrial Organiserbut was sackedfor
robustly defendinganother trade union member.
I have been subjected to all sorts ofharassment at Sovereign
since I becamea rep. Once this proved unsuccessful,they decided to
dismiss me.
If Sovereign can sack a unionconvenor for being effective, this
willencourage other bus operators to dolikewise. I am asking you to
supportour union at Sovereign and support thecampaign for my
reinstatement.
In comradeship,
Abdul Omer Moshin
Omer on the picket line
DEFEND ABDUL OMER CAMPAIGN
!Unite needs to act on the Harrowbranch call for an official
strikeballot. This cant wait until Omersdisciplinary process is
exhausted.!Call on Unite to organise a protestat Sovereigns HQ in
Twickenham!Contact Sovereign to demandOmers reinstatement. Email
PaulMatthews, managing director LondonSovereign at
[email protected]!Send messages of support
[email protected]!For more information, contact07973
640 057 or Busworker
WHAT NEXT?
SUPPORT FLOODS INAbdul Omer has already receiveddozens of
messages of support.These include four members ofthe Unite national
executive, RobWilliams from Unite at Linamar,Dave Smith from Unite
at First in
Sheffield, Sara Bennett from Unite atCUP, and Paul Brandon from
Unite atMetroline Holloway.
The list also includes three tradescouncils and the Right to
Workcampaign and the NSSN.
