By Chris Ross, John Braddock At a stopwork meeting last Thursday, bus drivers in New Zealand’s capital city Wellington voted 204–3 to reject a new pay offer from NZ Bus and approved a fresh round of strikes. Drivers also passed a unanimous motion .
New Zealand: Wellington bus drivers reject second pay offer, vote for strikes
At a stopwork meeting last Thursday, bus drivers in New Zealand’s capital city Wellington voted 204–3 to reject a new pay offer from NZ Bus and approved a fresh round of strikes. Drivers also passed a unanimous motion of no confidence in NZ Bus management, declaring the company was not fit to run public transport services.
Bus drivers protesting the lockout on April 23. (Credit: WSWS Media)
The meeting followed a week of talks mediated by the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), chaired by the Labour Party’s Daran Ponter, which contracts NZ Bus, the country’s largest operator, for services in the capital.
The pay offer from NZ Bus would have raised the base wage rate but would slash overtime pay and additional benefits such as double-time pay on weekends and after midnight that can be worth thousands of dollars a year to drivers. The deal also offered drivers with more than five years’ service a cash bonus of $10,000 if the deal was accepted. Those with less than 5 years service would receive $5000. Tramways Secretary Kevin O’Sullivan labelled the payment a “bribe” and said the union would not be accepting cash payments for giving up terms and conditions going forward.
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