Bus drivers reject pay offer in stormy meeting

The drivers have rejected one pay-rise proposal and their negotiators will meet NZ Bus chiefs again tomorrow. Photo / Richard Robinson

Bus drivers have rejected a NZ Bus pay-rise offer, despite a union recommendation that the offer be accepted.

About 900 NZ Bus drivers and cleaners were invited to the meeting today to discuss the pay offer which amounted to an increase of $2 an hour over three years. The company had previously offered $1.80 over two years.

Union spokesman Karl Anderson said the revised offer from the company would not solve the low wages and long hours experienced by drivers.

Asked if he was disappointed by the rejection, Mr Andersen said: "No, that's democracy".

It is not clear how much the vote was lost by but one bus driver at the meeting said there was not a huge gap between vote totals.

The meeting did get boisterous with some members storming out of the meeting early.

NZ Bus general manager of operations Zane Fulljames said the rejection "completely beggars belief".

"It is immensely disappointing to our customers, our people and the business. The unions agreed to take and recommend the offer to their members. This did not happen," Mr Fulljames said.

The pay dispute has now dragged on for six months and no end is in sight.

It is not clear if further industrial action has been planned by drivers.

Bus services run by NZ Bus were disrupted today while the drivers and cleaners met.

NZ Bus runs 70 per cent of Auckland's bus network including Metrolink, North Star, Waka Pacific, Go West, Link and City Circuit services.

NZ Bus and the unions representing drivers reached an agreement last week.

The new deal is understood to be an improvement on a previous company offer of increases amounting to $1.80 an hour by the final stage of a three-year document.

NZ Bus services were off the road for a week last month when Infratil-owned NZ Bus locked out drivers after they decided to work strictly to the rulebook.

That meant 80,000 workers and 10,000 students had to find other ways to and from work and school.

The lockout cost the bus company more than $1 million in lost subsidies after the Auckland Regional Council stopped paying the company and threatened to cancel contracts.