Open Letter to General Manager Operations, NZ Bus

Open Letter to Zane Fulljames, General Manager Operations, NZ Bus:

The New Zealand Tramways and Public Passenger Transport Employees Union [Inc.]
Wellington Branch

11 October 2009

Dear Zane,

I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you that the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Tramways Union condemns the NZ Bus lockout of Auckland bus drivers. Members of the Auckland Tramways Union and the three other unions that are involved with this dispute have negotiated in good faith with NZ Bus. By contrast NZ Bus has taken a hard line approach against Auckland Bus drivers.

The same bullying lockout tactics were used by your company against our members at Go Wellington in 2008. On that occasion NZ Bus were forced to withdraw their lockout notice after only a day, due to overwhelming public support for the Wellington bus drivers demands for a decent living wage.

This year Auckland drivers are asking for a modest increase to their hourly rate, and the restoration of time and a half for drivers who work over 8 hours in one day – the same as drivers are currently paid at Go Wellington. But instead of considering these reasonable claims by the Auckland Unions, NZ Bus has once again chosen to take an adversarial approach towards their workers.

Instead of negotiating, NZ Bus has locked out Auckland drivers with the intention of starving union members into accepting a bad deal. However your tactics will fail, just as they did in Wellington last year

The total disregard for the thousands of commuters in New Zealand’s biggest city by your company has been condemned by the Auckland Regional Council. It has also been criticised in the editorial pages of the NZ Herald. This dispute has given further weight to calls for public transport to be under public ownership and control, rather than having the service run into the ground by private companies like Infratil.

Last Thursday Wellington unions including the Wellington Tramways Union held a picket outside the Infratil office on The Terrace to show support and solidarity for the locked out Auckland drivers. If this lockout continues further pickets will be organised in Wellington outside the NZ Bus head office on Allen St.

It is time your negotiating team listened to union members and the general public. Auckland bus drivers deserve decent pay and conditions.

Yours Sincerely,

Nick Kelly
Wellington Branch President
New Zealand Tramways Union

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