Bus drivers offer to stop work-to-rule if lockout ends

Commuters have been forced to find ways of working around the lockout. File photo / Sarah Ivey

Buses could be back on the roads tomorrow after seven days of disrupted service.

This morning bus drivers met to consider an Employment Relations Authority recommendation, the details of which have not been revealed.

But about 500 bus drivers passed a resolution to suspend their work-to-rule notice if Infratil-owned NZ Bus ended their lock-out.

Yesterday the company said if bus drivers ended their work-to-rule notice by 1.30pm today, it would end the lock-out.

However the meeting went until 1.40pm and union spokesman Karl Andersen is still waiting for the company to formally accept the drivers' resolution.

He said bus drivers will be turning up to work tomorrow whether the company's lock-out is in force or not.

It is also understood that the company made a revised offer to the 875 drivers and cleaners involved in the dispute. The offer was based on the secret recommendation from the ERA.

About 500 drivers and cleaners turned up to this morning's meeting and the proposal was rejected by 95 per cent of voters.

The exact details of the revised offer are not known.

Mr Andersen acknowledged the recommendation as a good basis to resume bargaining with NZ Bus.

Meanwhile, NZ Bus has pledged to honour the recommendation by the Employment Relations Authority but will not reveal what the recommendation is.

NZ Bus general manger Zane Fulljames said the company will lift its lockout notice only if the union lifts its notice of work-to rule.

"If the Unions are genuine about resuming services for our customers, we trust they will join with us to get our buses back on the roads for our customers," Mr Fulljames said this morning.

The disruption to Auckland bus services will grind through a seventh day as locked-out drivers meet this morning to consider a third-party recommendation on settling their five-month pay dispute.

Up to 80,000 bus passengers have been caught up in what has become the longest period of disruption to Auckland transport for decades.

The lockout, which the bus company imposed on Thursday in response to notice of work-to-rule industrial action from the unions, has exceeded a six-day strike four years ago - when its fleet was owned by British company Stagecoach.

NZ Bus, owned by local investment company Infratil, offered last night to lift its lockout from 4am tomorrow but only in return for the four bus unions withdrawing their notice and agreeing to work with employment authority facilitator James Wilson to reach a ratified settlement.

It gave the unions until 1.30pm today to lift the notice.

"We have confidence in the facilitation process and trust that the unions will join with us to get our buses back on the roads," said operations manager Zane Fulljames.

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority, which had given the company an ultimatum of 5pm yesterday to provide proposals for an immediate resumption of all subsidised bus services, said it was "pleased with the development of the lockout situation".

"We are pleased to see the commitment from NZ Bus to resolving this dispute and getting the bulk of Auckland's buses back on the road," said authority chief executive Fergus Gammie.

But Mr Andersen said he did not want to prejudge Mr Wilson's recommendation or the drivers' response, but the company's conditional offer to lift the lockout was "the same old rhetoric".

Commuters and tourists in Queen St last night were dismayed to learn the lockout would continue today.

New Caledonian resident Fabienne Montesinos and her daughter Fabienne, who is attending an English language school in Auckland, said they were forced to rent a car in the absence of buses.

German visitor Bastian Pfendburg was surprised to find himself in "a capital city" with no buses and was trying to enjoy Auckland's attractions on foot.

First-year university student Priyanka Patel, walking to catch a train at Britomart, said she had to rely on family members to drive her between the Avondale station and her Blockhouse Bay home while preparing for exams in three weeks.

Auckland University Students Association president Darcy Peacock said that many of his members were becoming distraught by the disruption in their final two week of classes.

"This is causing a lot of extra stress at a very stressful time of year," he said. "Some people are at the end of five-year law degrees, and engineering students have to present their end of year projects - there are people here who are really really worried."

Trains carried 48 per cent more passengers than normal in yesterday's morning peak, and Auckland City staff were issuing warning notices only - rather than fines - to the relatively small number of motorists filmed breaching bus lane restrictions.

- With NZ HERALD STAFF