Bus company seeks ban on heavyweight drivers

Driver Sean Conway says he's never had a bus seat collapse under his 173kg weight. Photo / Dean Purcell

NZ Bus wants to ban fat drivers.

The company, embroiled in a dispute with drivers over pay and conditions, is trying to bar job-seekers weighing more than 115kg from its Auckland workforce.

The policy, aimed at new employees only after protests from unions, was described by a nutritional expert yesterday as discriminatory against Polynesians in particular.

And it has not gone down well with drivers like Sean Conway who, despite tipping the scales at 173kg (27st 3lb), says he "flew through" his last medical checkup.

Irish-born Mr Conway, delegate for 32 National Distribution Union drivers at the company, admitted to being a trimmer 135kg when he joined the bus service nine years ago.

"But nobody becomes a bus driver to lose weight," he said.

The bus unions are in a long-running dispute over pay, and this week rejected a new offer from NZ Bus.

They have blocked the company including existing employees such as Mr Conway in the prohibition, but it still wants a clause in a new collective agreement limiting new employees to a maximum weight of 115kg.

It says this is "in accordance with the manufacturing guidelines for driver seats and safe weight limits".

Mr Conway said the company accepted that drivers generally gained an average of 15kg in their sedentary job, so it appeared to have decided on the 115kg limit to cater for a manufacturing recommendation of a 130kg maximum weight for seats.

But he said the seats in buses he drove from his Swanson depot always took his weight without collapsing.

Mr Conway, who is 1.89m tall, said if the company was serious about addressing weight issues, it should help drivers by subsidising gym memberships or visits to dieticians.

It was difficult for drivers to find the time to exercise because of the long hours they worked. He said his shift began at 6.40am and finished at 6.40pm, with a three-hour break in the middle of the day.

But he did his best to control his weight by "water-walking" at a swimming pool and eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.

Auckland University of Technology nutrition and obesity expert Professor Elaine Rush said the company should adjust its seat specifications "to cope with what the New Zealand population actually is".

Professor Rush said the new clause seemed very discriminatory, especially against Polynesians, who had higher average weights than other ethnic groups.

She said although 95 per cent of non-Polynesian men would fall within the company's proposed limit, 5 per cent of Maori males weighed 125.9kg or more and the same proportion of Polynesians weighed 136.9kg or more.

"You don't want to add more discrimination, and people who are overweight can actually be very healthy, so you've really got to dig much deeper than how much space a person is taking," Professor Rush said.

NZ Bus operations manager Zane Fulljames said the weight of staff was a matter of concern for the company and the unions, which had agreed to recommend the new clause to members as part of the pay offer rejected by the drivers this week.