Bus services disrupted tomorrow as drivers vote on pay deal

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

Off-peak Auckland bus services will be disrupted tomorrow as drivers decide whether to accept a pay offer from their employers.

NZ Bus and four unions representing nearly 900 drivers and cleaners reached an agreement last week on their long-standing wage dispute, but both sides said details would be kept secret until it had been ratified.

The unions will meet with drivers and cleaners tomorrow between 9.30am and 2pm, and recommend they ratify the agreement reached at mediation talks over the last couple of weeks.

As a result there will be disruption to the Metrolink, North Star, Waka Pacific, Go West, Link and City Circuit services.

None of these services will run between 10am and 1.30pm, while there will be limited services in the 30 minute periods before 10am and after 1.30pm.

No school bus services will be disrupted.

NZ Bus services in Auckland were off the road for a week in October when Infratil-owned NZ Bus locked out drivers after they decided to work strictly to the rulebook. It 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. Drivers and cleaners lost a similar amount.

They were arguing over pay increases totalling $1.80 an hour and over what period they should be paid. Drivers earn between $14.05 and $16.75 an hour.

- NZPA