The World Socialist Web Site has received two resolutions from Committee for Public Education (CFPE) members in Australia demanding David O’Sullivan’s reinstatement at Cricklewood bus garage in London. Visit here to find out more and join the campaign for David O’Sullivan’s reinstatement. You can donate to O’Sullivan’s legal defence here.
The Committee for Public Education in Australia calls for the reinstatement of British bus driver David O’Sullivan, sacked for sounding the alarm over COVID infections at Cricklewood bus garage, thus upholding workers’ rights for health and safety, during a pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 60 bus workers in London.
We salute O’Sullivan for his courageous action and we stand in solidarity with London bus drivers and workers internationally, whose safety continues to be sacrificed to protect the profits of the corporations, their shareholders and the super-rich.
The decision of London bus drivers to form a rank-and-file safety committee last September, independent of the union, has been vindicated by Unite’s ongoing collusion with Metroline, to cover over the extent of the COVID dangers, and attempt to silence workers such as O'Sullivan who speak out.
Unite, along with the Trade Union Congress in Britain, abdicates any responsibility for the welfare of workers, saying that it cannot take a position on “how to manage a pandemic, or the speed or nature of any return to work.” Likewise, the Australian Education Union in the state of Victoria says that it can’t agree or disagree with the chief medical officer, when he states that schools are “low risk.”
In other words, as far as the unions are concerned, there is no need to adhere to the advice given by epidemiologists around the world. Rather, workers must blindly accept the diktats of governments, who are determined that workers should return to work, no matter what the consequences.
It is crucial that education workers see O’Sullivan’s struggle as their struggle, and come to his defence. This is a test case for the rights of workers everywhere. Management frame-ups and attacks are aimed at setting a precedent. which will be directed against the entire working class, including education workers.
We call on educators and working people to donate to his legal appeal, send messages of support, and organise resolutions at your workplace or community group. An injury to one is an injury to all! Reinstate David O'Sullivan!
The following resolution was passed by a meeting of university members of the Committee for Public Education in Australia.
This meeting of university workers in Australia, members of the Committee for Public Education, calls for the reinstatement of bus driver David O’Sullivan, sacked for upholding workers’ rights to health and safety during a pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 60 bus workers in London.
O’Sullivan, 57, was sacked on February 3, after he sounded the alarm over the spread of infections at Cricklewood bus garage. The rate of fatalities among London bus drivers is three times the national average, with the families of those killed demanding answers.
That a bus driver has been sacked for upholding his colleagues’ rights to a safe and secure workplace, under Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act (1996), is a serious assault on the democratic and social rights of the working class.
As educators, we are also being ordered back into face-to-face classes and working environments, despite the resurging global pandemic, on top of the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs in the public universities.
We stand in solidarity with London bus drivers and key workers everywhere, whose safety has been sacrificed to protect the profits of the corporations, their shareholders and the super-rich. We condemn the actions of the Unite union in colluding with the bus companies and Transport for London, presiding over a hostile environment in which illness, death and victimisation is stalking workers on a daily basis.
O’Sullivan’s sacking is a test case for the rights of workers everywhere. We call on working people to donate to O’Sullivan’s legal appeal, send messages of support, and organise resolutions at your workplace or community group. An injury to one is an injury to all!
To get involved with the work of the CFPE, contact them at cfpe.aus@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page or Twitter.