Wage crisis in bus sector

Yet another bus company has announced a shortage of bus drivers. The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has today announced a driver shortage. NZ Bus Chief Operating Officer, Claire Neville says the company isn’t receiving the number of applicants it needs. 166 is the total number of drivers required from NZ Bus for the Tauranga region (according to the regional council) and the company believes it is about 25% short of that number.

But FIRST Union Transport Organiser Emir Hodzic says the complaints of a driver shortage alone will not get the results that are desperately needed for the industry.

“The complaints of a driver shortage in Tauranga by NZ Bus and its regional council follow an application for more migrant workers by Ritchies Transport holdings last year. We suspect NZ Bus is moving to make a similar request. Both attempts are lazy short-sighted attempts to solve what are systemic issues.”

Mr Hodzic says the immediate solution is simple; pay needs to be lifted and more training implemented to attract more drivers.

“Firstly, we desperately need more training in this sector, public transport is the future and we are going to need these skills more than ever, yet despite ongoing difficulty attracting staff, training is not undertaken to the level it needs to be.”

He says there are sector-wide complications that also need to be addressed.

“Secondly, looking at the wider picture, the Public Transport Operating model that was rolled out across the bus industry awarded contracts to the lowest paying employers which eroded pay rates, overtime compensation has significantly worsened the hours of work. It’s no wonder that employers are finding it difficult to attract workers in a system that is designed to screw down wages and conditions of work.”

“Bringing in skilled labour where we need it is sensible, but that’s not what is needed here. What is needed in the bus industry is the end of competitive tendering and the implementation of a training scheme for new drivers.”

© Scoop Media