Drivers take action over depot's fate

Auckland bus drivers have sought Government assistance to prise information from their employer over the fate of the Mt Roskill depot, after a suggestion it will be closed and turned into a shopping centre.

The union has lodged papers seeking mediation assistance from the Employment Relations Service in what it says is the first step of a personal grievance action by delegates representing about 200 drivers based at the depot.

Union president Gary Froggatt said yesterday the drivers were "beside themselves" with concern that the depot near the intersection of Stoddard and May Rds was about to be closed, meaning they would have to travel to bases in South Auckland or Swanson if they were to keep their jobs.

NZ Bus owner Infratil has so far advised staff only of its sale of three other depots, with an assurance these would be leased back for continuing long-term bus operations.

But Mr Froggatt said that his members were shocked by a report in a Wellington newspaper quoting an Infratil director, Tim Brown, as saying the Mt Roskill depot would be closed and a resource consent application sought to build a $30 million, 13,000sq m neighbourhood shopping centre on its site.

He said NZ Bus was refusing to tell the drivers what was in store for them, which was why the union had asked the Employment Relations Service to appoint a mediator to ensure proper consultation under the terms of their employment agreement.

Mr Brown could not be reached for comment, but NZ Bus spokeswoman Megan McSweeney said the depot site had not been sold and no decisions had been made about its future.

She said several options were being explored, and employees would be notified once a decision was reached.

Mr Froggatt said he had been told independently that the depot had been sold.

He said it was a strategic public transport site which should never have been privatised along with the rest of the Auckland Regional Services Trust bus operation in the late 1990s.