More bus strikes on the horizon for Auckland

Ritchies Murphy bus drivers will strike tomorrow morning following an incredibly frustrating series of failed negotiations over pay and work conditions with more expected to follow.

The strike of around 60-70 bus drivers will be at Saint Aiden’s Reserve in Takanini and will run from 0700am to 0900am.

FIRST Union transport organiser Graham McKean says negotiations have been ongoing since September 2016, a remarkably long time for bus operators in Auckland, with the company pulling out of several planned meetings.

“We are trying to work with them, but the company is deliberately delaying the bargaining by pulling out of the meetings at the last minute. Bus drivers’ wellbeing and commuter safety should be paramount to the running of any transport business, but Ritchies Murphy can’t seem to look past its bottom dollar.”

Mr McKean says the company is paying over a $1.50 per hour less than the market rate so drivers have to work six days to get 40 hours of work for the week.

“Bus drivers work long hours with some of the nastiest timed shifts in any industry that barely leaves them time to sleep, let alone relax, and it’s a skilled job that requires a whole lot of responsibility.”

He says drivers have a right to a healthy life-style just as much as the next person.

“It’s a basic human right to have down-time to do with what you chose, many drivers don’t have this because of split and straight shifts, and they’re forced to work these shifts because of the low pay.”

Mr McKean says Union members feel disrespected by the company and harassed and bullied by management.

“Despite Ritchies touting lines in the media about wanting to work with us, it has made no effort to do so.”

A request from the company to bring in 20 more drivers from overseas was declined last week by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment due to concerns it wasn’t paying market rates.
“Market rates in this industry aren’t enough to live on, and Ritchies Transport (an affiliate of Ritchies Murphy) is paying much more below this.

“Look we’re thankful the Ministry considered the wellbeing of workers both here and overseas. This decision reaffirms the notion that importing people to do jobs for lower pay is both ethically wrong for the migrants brought over, and damaging for the pay rates of people currently living and working in New Zealand.

ENDS

Notes to editor:
What does rostering look like for a bus driver in Auckland?
The most common two types of shifts are either 10-11 hours with one to two hour unpaid breaks in the middle, most drivers have to remain at the depot for this ‘break time’, or 13-14 hour shifts that have a three to four hour unpaid break in the middle. If you’re working the 14 hours away from home, minus eight hours sleep, that’s barely enough time to eat and travel either side of these shifts, and this is not by choice, this is because pay rates are abysmal compared to the responsibility, skill and experience required.

According to the OECD’s Better Life Index for 2017 the average New Zealander working full time is afforded around 15 hours a day for personal care and leisure. That’s for eating, sleeping, socialising and hobbies. Compare this to the above statistics and bus drivers are short-changed around five hours a day, suggesting they work some of the longest hours in the country, but not by choice. Bus drivers are not afforded the everyday rights most of us have; the right to spend time with family, the right to simply have some down time, the right to choose what he or she would like to do with that spare time. Drivers are people with a life outside of work that should be their own to do with what they choose.

© Scoop Media