- Conference
- 2024 Water, Environment & Transport Conference
- Date
- 26 February 2024
- Decision
- Carried
Conference condemns the ever-increasing amount of disappearing bus services in our communities and the consequent impact on UNISON members employed in the public transport industry. Many parts of the country apart from London, have seen declines of more than two thirds on the level of bus provision and commuting has dropped by almost 50% since the Covid19 pandemic.
The lack of funding from central government also attributes to cuts in services which disproportionately impact those living on low incomes, disabled people and those from ethnic backgrounds who are less likely to own a car, as well as the elderly who have had to give up their vehicles due to their age or health. According to the National Audit Office, there has been a 38% reduction in local authorities’ financial support for bus services across most of England between 2010 and 2019.
Conference notes that since the introduction of the National Bus Strategy in May 2021 Greater Manchester has managed to bring its buses back under public control, UNISON welcome this practice and hope to see other transport authorities do the same for a well-regulated service to protect workers jobs.
Conference recognises that more than a decade of austerity has led to cuts in pay, terms and conditions of workers in this sector.
We believe members working in the transport sector should not pay for government failures; we call on the Service Group Executive to:
• Ask branches and regions to lobby local MPs in protecting bus services and jobs in the sector.
• Continue to support Campaign for Better Transport in the ‘Save our Buses’ campaign.
• Encourage branches to organise locally based campaigns to raise awareness of this issue.