Fighting fatigue

London bus passengers face disruption this month as over 150 Unite members at Transport for London will strike over roster changes that will leave them fed up and fatigued. 

Workers, who are bus station and network traffic controllers, will walk out from 23 to 25 April, to coincide with RMT workers taking action on the London Underground.

The dispute is around changes to rosters with increased weekend working and further travel to sites across London that teams haven’t previously covered. Unite members say this will leave them fatigued and also put them at risk of disciplinary action as they are unlikely to be able to travel to every site in time.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “These roster changes imposed by TfL on our hardworking members are completely unacceptable, and it must reconsider.

“Unite will not allow for detrimental changes to our members’ conditions and workers at TfL have our full support in their fight to protect them.”

The members involved in the dispute work in bus operations as bus station controllers and network traffic controllers, both safety critical roles at TfL.

Workers’ roles include managing bus stations, dealing with incidents and being responsible for the smooth running of the bus network – the most used form of transport across the TfL network.

As the strike dates coincide with those undertaken by tube workers, significant disruption is expected. The underground will see cancellations and delays leading to more bus passengers, but there will be no staff present at bus stations and nobody responsible for risk assessing bus routes and rerouting them if needed.

It could also cause disruption to diversions due to the London Marathon on Sunday 26 April, as the striking workers are responsible for planning diversions and putting physical boards around the capital in the week running up to the event.

Unite regional officer Nadine Edwards said: “TfL is failing to take our members’ concerns about the roster changes seriously, therefore they feel they have no choice but to take industrial action to make their voices heard.

“There is still time for TfL to avoid this disruptive action, but it relies on it changing course and coming up with proposals that are acceptable to workers who do a vital, difficult job running London’s bus network.”

Driver fatigue is also behind fresh bus disruption across East London as the Bow bus garage strike escalates, as over 300 drivers at the East London Bus & Coach Company take industrial action.

This dispute also concerns bus driver fatigue. Drivers at the East London Bus & Coach Company (part of Stagecoach) are driving long distances without adequate breaks, have had increased weekend working and are not given sufficient time between shifts to recuperate.

Fatigue is not just everyday tiredness. It is a very serious problem, which can cause mental and physical health issues and lead to a higher risk of accidents such as bus crashes. 

Strikes will take place starting today (17 April), continuing on24 April and 15 May.

These disputes come at a time when driver fatigue is increasing under the spotlight. 

Today (Friday 17 April) the Metro newspaper told the story of the impact that fatigue was having on hard working bus drivers.

The paper spoke to a number of drivers, including former Mertroline driver, Derek Hewitt, who explained how fatigue had forced him to leave his job after he was involved in two accidents, which left him with PTSD and depression.

Derek explained how tired drivers can be, often working a seven-day work week with a two-day weekend for a month before they have four days off.

In the article Derek explained how, last July, he lost concentration due to fatigue and had to do an emergency stop near a zebra crossing behind another vehicle, leading to three passengers being injured, one seriously.

Derek said: ‘The fact that I was responsible for three passengers getting hurt was extremely traumatic for me. I find it difficult to even talk about it now.

‘My colleagues were saying it happens to everybody, don’t worry about it, but the fact it happens to everybody is disturbing.’

Other drivers talk about how they have had near misses due to tiredness as well as added stress and welfare issues including not having enough time to even visit the toilet between shifts.

Unite has launched the Fight Fatigue Now campaign calling for TfL, the Mayor of London and operators to stop disciplining drivers for fatigue and introduce a minimum 12-hour break between shifts.

By Keith Hatch

Photo by Guy Smallman/Getty Images