Support for back-to-work drivers

Public support for bus drivers who yesterday ended a six-day strike remains high on Auckland streets, despite fear of more disruption as winter begins next month.


Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard said he would contact both sides in the dispute to urge them to settle their differences before a June 7 deadline which the drivers have set Stagecoach for a higher pay offer to avoid more industrial action.

"There is an amount of goodwill towards the drivers but a danger that if this goes on, that goodwill will evaporate," he said.

"For some people, buses are as essential a service as electricity or water."

Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee would add little to comments he made last week in which he indicated his personal support for the drivers while refusing to allow his organisation to be drawn into their industrial battle.

"I urge the parties to get together and think about the passengers," was all he would say yesterday.

The bus unions have decided against marching to the council's offices, at least for now, but new left-wing councillor Robyn Hughes said it should weigh into a dispute of such importance to the region,

She remained ready to join the drivers on a march if they changed their mind.

The councillor said the drivers were "inspirational to other low-paid workers".

Passengers waiting for bus rides home last night were disappointed the dispute remained unsettled.

However, most said their support for the drivers would not weaken even if they had to face more strikes.

Auckland office worker John Simpson, who relies on buses to commute from Albany as he does not hold a car licence, said the drivers' pay was so "terrible" he would keep supporting them despite the hardship their strike had caused him.

University student Tea Domenichini said more disruption next month would be "a royal pain in the arse", especially during mid-year exams, but she believed the drivers deserved more.

She had been forced to skip several classes when unable to get a lift from her Torbay home, and student numbers dropped to half their normal levels in some lectures.

Fellow student Emma Brosnahan said many fellow students earned more from summer holiday jobs than bus drivers with families to support.

Baker John Mutch, who had to rely on car-pooling to travel from Whangaparaoa during the strike, said $16 an hour was "not outrageous" given the unsociable hours worked by drivers.

Office worker Judy Turnbull, who also commutes from Whangaparaoa, said the drivers should be allowed morning and afternoon tea breaks "like the rest of us".

But a university business lecturer, who would not be named, said the drivers were inconsiderate.

"Stagecoach did not put a gun to their heads to work for it."

A woman passenger, similarly shy about being identified, said she had tolerated the strike but would be annoyed about any more disruption.

There was only so much money the drivers could get out of a stone, she said, but they also deserved breaks.