Wayne Mapp National Party Industrial Relations Spokesman

5 May 2005

Labour, unions leave 150,000 stranded

National's Industrial Relations spokesman, Wayne Mapp, says more than 150,000 Aucklanders are paying the price for Labour giving unwarranted power to unions this week.

Stagecoach bus drivers across Auckland are striking for an unprecedented six days, demanding a 16% pay increase.

Dr Mapp says six days of lost wages mean union members would have been better of to accept the 14.8% increase they were offered, as recommended by the Employment Relations Authority.

"The Authority says the deal on the table is a fair one but clearly the interests of the union leader are not with the drivers or the 150,000 stranded Aucklanders.

"Labour's legislation allows unions to carry on striking even though their application has gone for a binding adjudication from the Employment Relations Authority.

"Labour expects employers to bargain and work in good faith but it looks like unions can operate under a separate set of rules.

"National predicted this kind of unruly strike action would result from Labour's new legislation which gives unions preferential treatment, at considerable cost to the economy. National will remove union preference and bring sanity back to industrial law," says Dr Mapp

ENDS

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