Community stands strong with bus drivers to oppose privatisation
The community of the Inner West has demonstrated its strong support for bus drivers through its attendance at three major events over the last month. With events across Leichhardt, Marrickville and Sydney’s CBD, the fight to stop Constance’s privatisation attacks has well and truly ramped up.
Hosted by NSW Labor MPs Jo Haylen and Sophie Costsis on June 15 the ‘Meet the Drivers’ night was held at the Herb Greedie Hall in Marrickville to a full house of concerned commuters and ‘Don’t Sell Our Buses’ campaign supporters.
The bus drivers gave an excellent account of the frustrations of managing Sydney traffic while many older people highlighted their deep concern over the removal of bus stops, and how this would affect mobility impaired commuters from using the bus for vital tasks like food shopping.
On June 20 at Leichhardt, Greens MPs Jamie Parker, Jenny Leong and Mehreen Faruqi hosted a Town Hall meeting which was attended by over 300 people, outraged with the NSW Government’s plans to sell off their buses, which are an important community asset.
The community came together again on June 28th as the Sydney Alliance brought together hundreds of supporters in a Community Assembly at Pitt St Uniting Church. RTBU Tram and Bus Division Secretary Chris Preston outlined how the community could get involved with the campaign by signing the paper and online petitions and participating in the commuter day of action which is taking place on the 5th of July.
On the evening over 200 Commuter Action Day packs with petitions were handed out until there was none left, so organisers are working hard to distribute hundreds more so that more supporters can be ready for the big day on July 5.
The bus drivers and other public transport workers were blown away by level of community support across all three events. This widespread support demonstrates that the community is just as angry as bus drivers about the privatisation and strongly supports the ‘Don’t Sell Our Buses Campaign.’
We thank all politicians and organisers for assisting with these events and everyone who took time to attend.