THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO ... NOWHERE
TRAVEL plans of tertiary students could be thrown into disarray on Tuesday as a 15-week pay dispute between CDC Victoria bus drivers and management rolls on.
Drivers appear likely to walk off the job in Geelong for the third time in a week between 9am and 1pm on Tuesday as they fight for a better pay deal.
Talks to broker a deal between the Transport Workers Union and CDC Victoria at the Fair Work Commission in Melbourne yesterday came to a premature ending with the union accusing CDC of rehashing an offer it rejected at a meeting on July 9.
TWU Victorian branch secretary John Berger said the CDC pay rise offer was less than all previous 12 average annual wage increases.
“I ask the question of bus passengers: would you happily and quietly accept a deal from your employer that is less than previous years while in the meantime all of your other expenses have remained unchanged or increased?” Mr Berger said.
“If the answer is no … then you would understand why hard-working Victorian bus drivers have made this stand against a rich, powerful, multinational (company) who in 2017 had an annual global revenue of $400 billion and an Australian revenue of $420 million.”
CDC Victoria operates 10 bus routes in Geelong with some servicing students from North Geelong Secondary College and Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College.
Deakin’s second trimester enters its second week from Monday while The Gordon’s term 2 also begins Monday.
Mr Berger apologised to commuters for the inconvenience recent strikes had caused.
“However, many bus drivers, like many bus passengers, pay mortgages or rent, taxes, rates and school fees, and have continually increasing grocery and utility bills.
“They want wage certainty and the current annual wage growth system has been too unreliable,” Mr Berger said.
He said until the strike on Tuesday, Victorian bus drivers had not walked off the job to strike in 20 years.
CDC Victoria bus drivers walked off the job to protest against the company’s offer of a three-year average wage and superannuation increase of 2.66 per cent.
The TWU is calling for a 5 per cent annual increase to wages and superannuation for three years.
CDC Victoria chief executive Nicholas Yap said the increase proposed by the TWU was not sustainable.
“If the labour index continues to trend at a historic average increase of 2.3 per cent and we pay 2.66 per cent (for three years) we’re already out of pocket,” Mr Yap said earlier this week.
“There’s not a lot of room for us to move upwards.”
The average full-time bus driver earns about $58,000 after tax.
Yesterday striking drivers were directed to change signage on their buses to “not in service” when the strike began and return to the depot when the bus was empty.