Disrupted bus services loom for thousands

Tens of thousands of Auckland bus passengers face disrupted travel today as drivers stop work to mull over a pay offer that falls short of union demands.

Although peak services will be unaffected, Stagecoach Auckland is cancelling most buses between 9.30am and 2pm to cater for a paid stopwork meeting of up to 1000 drivers.

A minority of non-union drivers will be used to maintain the Link and City Circuit services, as well as five routes between Auckland and northern suburbs.

But Stagecoach spokesman Russell Turnbull said the stopwork meeting, which the company approved in a bid to settle a three-year collective employment deal, would disrupt about 33,000 passengers out of an average daily load for this time of year of 140,000.

Combined unions advocate Gary Froggatt would not disclose what recommendation his negotiating team would put to members, except to say the pay offer made after months of talks failed to address a range of "problems".

But he hoped there was room to move in the talks without the need for industrial action, and said the unions had agreed to meet the company before a mediator if drivers rejected the pay offer today.

Stagecoach operations director Warren Fowler confirmed the company's readiness to enter mediation, and said he had an assurance from the unions that they would not sanction any move by drivers to stay off the job after the meeting.

He was therefore confident buses would be back on the road in time to carry children home from school.

Mr Froggatt said the company's offer amounted to an average annual pay rise for the next three years of 57c above the existing hourly wage of $13.94, against a push by the unions for an immediate increase to $16.

Other differences included the company's rejection of claims for morning and afternoon tea breaks, a reduction from 5 1/2 hours to four hours' continuous time behind the wheel, and a halving of a six-hour split in daily shifts spanning 14 hours.

He noted that a rival bus company was offering $18 an hour in short-term contracts, admittedly without overtime rates, in a bid to overcome a shortage of drivers for new routes in western and northern suburbs.

Mr Fowler said Stagecoach was offering an immediate rise to $15 an hour, backdated to November, to be followed by smaller increases of 2.2 per cent for each of the next two years.

He said the rival company's offer was only for three or four months, after which new drivers would face a reduction in their hourly rate of more than $4.

Although drivers are not paid for the gaps in their duties, Mr Fowler said the company was offering an increase in a daily split-shift allowance of at least $5 for drivers required to stand down for more than three hours.

* For full information on which services are running, contact Rideline on 366-6400.
* Most buses cancelled between 9.30am and 2pm