No air-con, no bus!

Bus drivers across London have taken direct action to protect themselves and the travelling public in this week’s heatwave. At the Bow garage, Docklands garage and elsewhere drivers have refused to drive buses without air-conditioning on health and safety grounds. Arriva London North Unite branch is now balloting members for industrial action over this issue.

A large part of London’s bus fleet lacks effective air-conditioning and temperatures in bus cabs have exceeded 40C this week. On driver reported 53.5C which is pushing at the limit of human survivability.

Each year, bus companies risk catastrophic loss of life by insisting on business-as-usual during heatwaves. Each year they prioritise their profits over the necessary investment in air-conditioning.Some managers have threatened to dock the wages of workers refusing to drive in extreme heat. But such action is illegal under s44 Employment Rights Act which says workers should suffer “no detriment” for refusing work they believe poses a serious and imminent risk to health and safety. Its also in direct contradiction of a statement issued by Sadiq Khan this week. These bullying tactics of bus company executives in their nicely air conditioned offices should be met with a robust response from Unite and the mayor of London.

Alot of the air conditioning units that did exist on London buses were taken out during the pandemic, as drivers were put in harms away by recirculating air. 75 drivers died in the pandemic and London’s bus drivers were three times more likely to be infected, suffer long term disability and die than the general public. The shift to air-cooling systems, which cool fresh air drawn from outside the bus, reduced the risk of infection but created a new safety problem in the heatwaves. We live in an age of pandemics and drivers should be protected from respiratory pathogens and excessive heat. Safety reps should insist on air conditioning with HEPA filtration as recommended in healthcare settings by the Covid Inquiry.

With climate change ramping up summer temperatures each year, the dangers increase. Either we force our employers to sacrifice a bit of their profits for the necessary adaptations, or we will pay with working-class lives.

The direct action of drivers and the plans for further industrial action are the way we will win a transport system fit for the future.