Unions intend balloting Auckland bus drivers about taking strike action unless their employer allows a city-wide stopwork meeting three days before Christmas.
They intend distributing postal ballot papers today, failing a guarantee from NZ Bus that the company will support an all-up paid stopwork meeting on Tuesday, December 22.
The Auckland Tramways Union and First Union, representing about 1000 staff, earlier gave it notice of a two-hour meeting to discuss a new collective employment agreement.
The meeting at Mt Eden War Memorial Hall is scheduled for the off-peak hours of 11am to 1pm. The unions seek a 2.95 per cent wage rise against an offer of 0.75 per cent, and are opposed to rotating shifts introduced in July.