Auckland Bus strike: Goff won't get involved in four-day old disruption

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

NZ Bus drivers took to the streets on Monday to protest the company's suspension amid strike action over working hours and pay.

Auckland's mayor Phil Goff says he has some sympathy with suspended bus drivers, but won't be intervening to try to resolve the dispute involving 800 workers.

Union members working for NZ Bus have been suspended during contract talks in which they are seeking a pay rise and a reduction in working days which can span 14 hours.

Around 35 per cent of Auckland's bus services are not running during the current drivers' dispute

Around 35 per cent of bus services which are contracted by the council agency Auckland Transport are not running, and drivers were due to meet on Tuesday morning to review the dispute.

'Because of broken shifts, they have a long working day, and are not paid extravagantly,' said Goff.

NZ Bus drivers took to the streets in December 2019 as part of their strike action over working hours and pay. (Video from December 2019)

**READ MORE:

* [Auckland bus strike: What you need to know

*](https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/118037766/auckland-bus-strike-what-you-need-to-know) Auckland bus strike: 100 drivers suspended with no pay until Christmas Eve

* Auckland bus strike: NZ Bus services cancelled from Saturday

* Auckland buses to provide free fares during strike action**

'It is a dispute between parties to a collective agreement, and it's not my practice to become involved in industrial disputes,' Goff told a budget media briefing.

The unions argue that their ability to negotiate better pay and conditions, is constrained by the government-directed contracting system which councils use to procure services.

Goff said the council would leave the pay, conditions, and industry recruitment problems, to a working group set up by the government, which Auckland Transport is a part of.

NZ Bus drivers have been suspended for the past four days, after previously refusing to charge fares.

Tramways union president Gary Froggatt said NZ Bus was considering a proposal put to it yesterday by the unions, but so far had not discussed the working hours issue.

Froggatt said a lack of involvement from Auckland Transport, which agreed contracts with bus firms including NZ Bus, was a problem.

'It is unfortunate for AT to (effectively) decide what the contract pay increase will be,' he told Stuff.

Goff has proposed next year to extend the payment of a Living Wage from council staff to cleaners who work for the council through contractors.

The Living Wage programme will cost ratepayers $3.9 million a year once completed, but pales compared with the cost of improving bus drivers' conditions.

New legislation requiring drivers to be given more frequent rest breaks, will cost the council $8 million a year once implemented in May, but does not involve the separate issue of long working days.

Stuff asked whether bus drivers who were contracted to a council agency also warranted political intervention, but Goff said he would not do that during an industrial dispute.

The drivers want a significant increase to the $17.72 an hour rate paid to new bus drivers for the first three months, and have rejected an offer from NZ Bus of a 2 per cent overall pay rise.