Employment News – Auckland NZ Bus strike to continue as company refuses to move

Auckland NZ Bus drivers who are members of Tramways and FIRST Union will continue industrial action over the coming week, including morning work stoppages on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at seven Auckland depots, following today’s unsuccessful mediation meeting in which the company refused to improve their pay offer or negotiate meaningfully with city bus drivers.

Tuesday 11th – Thursday 13th July 2023, 04:00-08:00 – Union members’ withdrawal of labour from 7 NZ Bus depots (City, Glenfield, Onehunga, New Lynn, Panmure, Swanson and Roskill)

“We sat down in mediation with NZ Bus today in good faith and listened to them reproducing the same offer that members have already rejected without any realistic movement or negotiation at the table,” said Hayley Courtney, FIRST Union organiser.

“Under the company’s plan, long-serving drivers would not earn the promised $30 per hour for a year or more due to the structure of their jobs, which include penal and overtime rates, while new migrant drivers would earn higher base rates and work no overtime.”

“There is no reason that NZ Bus, with the support of Auckland Transport, is not paying an effective rate of $30 per hour to the city’s bus drivers as has already happened in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin due to coordinated action at the political and council levels.”

“We will support facilitated bargaining with the company when they are ready to engage meaningfully but members have decided to continue with the planned industrial action until real negotiations begin.”

• The company’s current offer to union members would mean the effective rate for an Auckland NZ Bus driver who works any overtime hours or for any penal rates would increase from $26.76 per hour up to $28.00 per hour from 3 July 2023.
• While migrant drivers and drivers who only work rostered hours would, under this offer, have a pathway to earn above $30 per hour in a year or more, most existing Auckland drivers don’t fall into this category and will earn significantly less.