Camden traffic wardens: “Low Pay, No Way!

From the forthcomhg issue of Solidarity (available later this week):

Camden traffic wardens’ strike remains solid, entering its fifth week as this issue goes to press. As Solidarity 681 reported, the outsourced workers demand a pay rise from £12.70 per hour to £15.90. They have voted overwhelmingly to stay out continuously until their bosses at NSL pay up.

Strikers describe how work conditions have intensified in recent years. They must now continuously account for their activities via electronic log, and can be called for a “talk” with a manager for going as little as ten minutes without reporting in. One commented on the surveillance: “You feel downgraded. They don’t trust you to do your job!”

The employer and the council have expanded their duties without compensation. For example, they must now confront drivers for engine idling. The wardens already face verbal and physical abuse from members of the public – much of it with a racist edge, for this mainly black and brown workforce – and this exposes them to more.

The wardens have put pressure on Camden Council to pay up by marching on council offices. Recently they travelled to Birmingham to bring their demands to NSL’s parent company, Marston Holdings, in a loud and confident protest.

In mid-August, NSL made a slightly improved offer. The employer hoped to buy three years of peace in exchange for £13.75 this year (only 10p more than their last pitch), increasing to £15.20 by 2025. A packed meeting of the workforce discussed it and, by unanimous show of hands, voted to dismiss it and stay out. Note how this live, collective democracy contrasts with the demobilising, atomising approach of pausing action to hold remote ballots on employers’ weak offers.

Camden traffic wardens have won successive gains over several years, by organising solidly and taking firm action. Other London boroughs where NSL holds contracts have begun to follow, with Westminster wardens recently securing a pay rise after two weeks on strike. Duncan, a Unison steward, told Solidarity that the struggle needs to spread beyond London, where wages are even poorer – often under £11. And as Solidarity has previously argued, the wardens’ strategy is an example for the wider labour movement too.

So the outcome of this strike has wider significance too. Duncan explained that he believes the bosses will “try and starve us out” and are waiting to see if their resolve breaks at the end of the month, when they would ordinarily get paid.

Maximum solidarity – both in shows of support and donations – is therefore particularly important as September approaches:

Don’t abandon Labour to the rightwingers – fight in branches and CLPs to pressure the Labour-majority councillors.

Visit picket lines 7-10am: Regis Road NW5 3EW Tue/Thu/Fri; 199 Belsize Road NW6 4AA Tue/Wed/Thu; 13-15 Guilford St WC1N 1DW Mon/Tue/Thu. Messages of support: unison@camden.gov.uk. Hardship fund: Camden Unison NSL, sort code 60-83-01, account no 20399018.

https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2023-08-20/traffic-wardens-low-pay-no-way

• the post also appears on the Workers Liberty website.