A group of 80 UK members of parliament (MPs) have written to transport group National Express shareholders ahead of the firm’s annual meeting asking them to vote against the company in protest against its treatment of school bus drivers in the US, the Independent reports.
National Express Group, which operates bus and railway services in the UK, Spain, North America and Morocco, has neglected the welfare of its workers in the US while congratulating itself publicly for its relations with union workers in the UK, the politicians write in a letter to the company’s shareholders ahead of the May 9 annual meeting.
‘Over the past few years we have learned from National Express Group workers employed by the company’s North American school bus subsidiaries and their union representatives of what we believe to be a systemic approach from the company to deny workers their rights to freedom of association and engage in collective bargaining for their working conditions,’ the letter notes, according to the Independent.
The MPs ask National Express shareholders to vote down the company’s annual report and accounts in protest against these activities. The newspaper reports that the company’s treatment of US school bus drivers ‘appears to be very much at odds with the company’s approach to industrial relations on the other side of the Atlantic.’
Jim Sheridan, chairman of the MPs group, says he wants National Express to follow the lead of First Group, which experienced ‘some problem and management went to the US and knocked heads together,’ the Independent reports. The newspaper further cites Sheridan as saying management ‘now works with unions and it hasn’t harmed the business.’
National Express says it has ‘robust policies’ to protect workers’ rights, the Independent continues, and the firm adds that ‘reflecting the importance of employee relations, and in line with accepted practice, this issue is reported to the whole board.’
Members of the Teamsters Union plan to protest at the meeting, according to a union press release. ‘It is deeply concerning when a UK-based public limited company engages in conduct that violates US workers’ rights and deprives them of decent working conditions and respect,’ says union president Jim Hoffa. ‘National Express’ subsidiaries should be operating in the pursuit of the highest standards, not failing to uphold the human rights that should be afforded to all its workers throughout the world.’
