Workers who highlighted dangerous conditions have pay stopped

Cardiff is facing being brought to a standstill this autumn after Cardiff Bus workers prepare to vote for strike action.

Over 500 drivers, engineers, cleaners and other workers are being balloted after 11 workers had their pay stopped when they refused to work in highly dangerous conditions during the summer heatwave.

One driver was so unwell due to the heat they required medical attention yet the diktat from Cardiff Bus was that they, and every other driver, should continue working. During the heatwaves, ‘in cab’ temperatures sky rocketed and many members felt at risk while driving and some made the right decision that it was too dangerous for them and their passengers to continue.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:

"For a publicly owned and run bus company to be treating its workers like this is a disgrace. Demanding drivers continue their shifts in buses where temperatures hit forty degrees is reckless and puts passengers as well as drivers at risk. Cardiff Bus needs to see sense and end this dispute.

“Cardiff Bus could resolve this at a cost of for just over a thousand pounds yet instead is needlessly depriving workers of their wages.”

Unite are demanding an agreement on a detailed adverse temperature policy seeks to establish what an unsafe working temperature is. This would support staff that may have protected characteristics in achieving understood reasonable adjustments.

Unite regional officer Alan McCarthy said:

“Strike action will result in Cardiff grinding to a halt but this is entirely a result of the heavy handed and vindicative nature of Cardiff Bus's management.

“Ultimately, this is symptomatic of a wider issue of poor industrial relations by management. The lived experience of reps and members is one of disregard, and senior management unwilling to admit when they’re wrong. This ballot for strike action is a direct result of that."

In a bitter irony, trade unions, including Unite, last week agreed a joint statement with Transport for Wales and the Welsh government that all transport companies need to address soaring summer temperatures. This would include dealing with in-cab temperatures for bus drivers.

Unlike the vast majority of bus companies in Wales and the UK, which are privately run, Cardiff Bus is entirely publicly owned by Cardiff council and councillors sit on the board of directors.

The ballot opens on October 14th and closes on November 4th.