Bus drivers discuss industrial action

Unions representing Auckland bus drivers were today talking to lawyers about the nature of industrial action they plan to take over their contract dispute.

Four unions, representing about 1000 NZ Bus drivers and cleaners, moved yesterday to issue notice of industrial action following unsuccessful mediation to settle a pay dispute.

The dispute has been going for five months and the parties today accused each other of shifting the goal posts in terms of their claims.

Gary Froggatt, spokesman for the Tramways Union, said discussions were being held with lawyers over the precise wording of the strike notice.

He said formal notice was likely to be given to NZ Bus, owned by Infratil, tomorrow or Thursday.

He would not say what the action would be other than that it would be "work to rule" - where staff work to the letter of the rule book and no more.

The drivers' first proposed industrial action was work to rule plus the refusal to perform some extra actions. That was met by NZ Bus saying it would lock out the drivers.

Action was averted when NZ Bus made a new offer, but the two parties have failed to reach an agreement since then.

The unions said drivers earn between $14.05 and $16.75 an hour, with split shifts often keeping them away from home for long hours, and that a pay offer from NZ Bus was inadequate.

They said the company's latest offer was considered a "backward step".

NZ Bus chief executive Bruce Emson said the unions had rejected an improved company offer of 4.2 per cent, 3.0 per cent and 3.3 per cent over three years, an offer he described as substantial given the economic climate.

He said the unions' claims were increasing and the gap was widening.

- NZPA