Transport chaos over 70 cents an hour

A thousand Auckland transport workers - including 875 bus drivers – who want a pay rise of 70 cents an hour are about to be locked out of their jobs, threatening the city’s public transport with chaos.

Infratil-owned NZ Bus, which operates the Metrolink, Go West, Waka Pacific, North Star, Link and City Circuit bus services, has told the workers that they will be barred from work indefintitely from 4am on Wednesday (September 9).

They have been trying to negotiate a new collective employment agreement since early June, and were due to start low-level industrial action on Wednesday morning.

“We had told them that we were going to work-to-rule, which means sticking to what’s in the manual without doing any of the extra things that we usually do,” said combined unions spokesman Stu Harper.

The drivers had also said they would not be sending the computer information that informs passengers waiting at stops where the bus is, and would not do the last run of the shift if they were running late.

“It’s pretty low-level stuff,” said Mr Harper. “The buses would still be running and we’d be doing our jobs, but Infratril has chosen to respond with a sledgehammer and lock us all out.”

The lockout means that the workers will not be paid and bus services will not operate.

“Not only are they punishing us for daring to stand up to them, but they are also punishing the people of Auckland,” Mr Harper said.

The workers are seeking an average pay rise of 4.2 per cent – or 70 cents an hour for every worker. The company has offered them a 3.5 per cent rise but only if they sign a three-year agreement, with a rise of 3 per cent next year and 3.4 per cent the year after.

Mr Harper said that the workers were keen to settle the dispute and get on with driving Auckland’s buses, but did not want to be locked in to such a long agreement at a time when the economy was bad.

The drivers earn between $14.05 and $16.75 an hour, and work 13-hour shifts. Many work split-shifts, which means they have to spend up to four hours extra a day in the city, waiting for the next part of their shift to start.

“We’re not paid for that time,” said Mr Harper. “All we get is an allowance of $4.12.”

The drivers are members of the Auckland Tramways Union, the Akarana Public Drivers’ Association, the Northern Distribution Union and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union.

Mr Harper said that they hope the dispute can be settled before Wednesday, and that company negotiator Zane Fulljames will contact him with a new offer to put to the workers.

ENDS

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