Bus drivers vote for strike action
A series of ‘‘surprise attack’’ strikes will shut down Wellington’s bus routes after drivers voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action.
The strikes would be announced with 24 hours’ notice and could begin as soon as Monday, Tramways Union secretary Kevin O’Sullivan said.
Drivers will refuse to take the wheel on all services in the city, including school runs. Hutt Valley and Porirua will not be affected.
At a meeting in St Patricks Hall, Kilbirnie, a raucous group of union drivers voted 204-2 in favour of taking industrial action.
The Tramways Union has been locked in a pay dispute with operator NZ Bus, which holds the contracts for most services within the Wellington city limits.
NZ Bus wants to move drivers on to a new collective agreement with a higher base wage but with lower penal rates and one week less annual leave.
The union is fiercely protective of several highly valued benefits in its current collective agreement, including double pay after midnight, time and a half on weekends, and strict controls around hours of work without extra pay.
Drivers voted first to reject the company’s offer and then to strike. Both votes were nearly unanimous.
‘‘Anyone who thinks this offer is somehow going to improve our lives needs to think a bit more. This is not going to help us at all. This offer is an insult,’’ Brent Pierson told drivers at the meeting.
Bus driver Ruth Baldwin said she had calculated that the loss of penal rates would mean she would have earned $7000 less last year, plus one less week of holidays.
Union member Phil Darkins told the crowd: ‘‘If we do not take the action that is required, right now, in order to support and maintain the terms and conditions that have been fought for by many more people than us, over much longer than what we have been fighting it, then we are doing ourselves and our nation a terrible disservice.’’
O’Sullivan said the union would not be announcing the dates of the strikes to drivers and the company until 24 hours before they began.
The strikes, most likely a series of one-off days of action, could begin as early as next week, he said.
The union was printing 10,000 flyers which it would place in buses and around town explaining why drivers were striking and would take out a full-page ad in The Dominion Post to warn commuters in advance of the strike.
Metlink urged the company and union to restart negotiations in order to minimise disruption for commuters and said it had offered to provide mediation services.
NZ Bus chief executive Jay Zmijewski said the strikes would hurt passengers and drivers.
“The offer we’ve made to the Tramways Union is a good deal for drivers,’’ Zmijewski said.
‘‘It would provide full-time employment for all our drivers and on the best terms in the urban bus industry.
“The current collective agreement is unfair for newer drivers. It currently rewards the longest-serving drivers with the best shifts and working hours, while new recruits cannot be offered full-time work.’’
Industrial action has been almost certain ever since pay negotiations with NZ Bus broke down last month.
Wellington bus drivers have among the highest union membership of any industry group and have repeatedly signalled they are willing to strike.
There were 269 bus services cancelled yesterday while drivers stopped work to attend the meeting.
‘‘This is not going to help us at all. This offer is an insult.’’ Brent Pierson