27 April 2011

ACTION to remain useless on weekends

| johnboy
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buses

The ABC brings word that the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union will continue its persecution of the bus reliant (primarily the young and the infirm, but also the poor) by refusing to work overtime on weekends.

ACTION management in turn have set themselves up so that they can’t run weekend bus services without maintenance overtime.

Jane Timbrell from the AMWU says the overtime bans will remain in place on weekends until enterprise bargaining negotiations are concluded.

“We haven’t yet heard anything back from ACTION management or the ACT Government with regards to any offer to finalise stuff,” she said.

“Obviously this is very frustrating for everyone concerned. We really look forward to talking to ACTION and the ACT Government ASAP.”

Negotiations are planned for later this week.

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colourful sydney racing identity3:04 pm 28 Apr 11

Le_Gambit said :

And precisely what grounds would there be for terminating their employment?

If they dont want to work for what they are being offered. And are refusing to work at all for the offered amount I see that as quitting.

If I was running a business and my employees didn’t show up I wouldn’t keep them on.

Well, thank your lucky stars you are not running a business as you would soon be broke.
They are taking protected industrial action. What they are doing is 100% legal.

If you dismissed them for that you would be breaching the Fair Work Act (you also would have been breaching the then Howard Governments Workplace Relations Act).

And precisely what grounds would there be for terminating their employment?

If they dont want to work for what they are being offered. And are refusing to work at all for the offered amount I see that as quitting.

If I was running a business and my employees didn’t show up I wouldn’t keep them on.

bd84 said :

Ah the situation where both parties are both idiots. Both the Government and the drivers need to give in and negotiate, although it appears as though the drivers are but Stanhopeless is not.

Stanhope needs to admit that the drivers here get paid more in comparison to other places to actually attract people to drive the buses, rather than being greedy. To get people to your workplace in this city you need to pay well, otherwise they will just go elsewhere.

The original agreement was based on a 5 day work week, with weekend work optional and voluntary. There is a condition that drivers get paid slightly higher on the basis that most will volunteer to do some weekend work, to use that as an excuse to now not want to pay any penalty rates for compulsory weekend rostering is idiotic.

The fact that mechanics have to work overtime on weekends, in addition to their weekday work and with I assume no penalty rates, to ensure the buses are refuelled and working is an example of how inadequate the management of the place must be. One would think with proper rostering, there should be enough mechanics to be working in the place without them normally having to do overtime.

What needs to happen is the Government to give in and pay penalty rates for weekend work (I believe the drivers only want 0.5 extra) and the drivers to agree that the business is a 7 day one and that a portion of them will be required to work on a weekend.

Even with this fixed, ACTION are useless on every day of the week ending in y. Build a better network and people will catch a bus.

The drivers are not on strike. THe mechanics are. The drivers (like passengers) are innocent bystanders in this action. Like passengers, they are being inconvenienced by the mechanics strike.

On your final comment, ACTION is not useless. On 5 days a week they provide a fantastic bus service that gets me where ever I need to go for less than $2.

Their weekend timetable however (even without mechanics on strike) is nothing more than pathetic

colourful sydney racing identity10:22 am 28 Apr 11

Le_Gambit said :

ACTION is not making any money at all! Where do these fools expect the money to come from?

I suggest fire the lot of them and hire a new team of reasonable people. I understand that there needs to be more planning on ACTIONs end to determine how the shifts are run. But unrealistic and foolish demands on pay won’t help the position of the union or give them any support.

If drivers choose not to take fares then they should be docked 100%+ of their pay. It is not the way grown ups should behave.

And precisely what grounds would there be for terminating their employment?

So which timetables (or lack of) are they inflicting on us all this weekend?

ACTION is not making any money at all! Where do these fools expect the money to come from?

I suggest fire the lot of them and hire a new team of reasonable people. I understand that there needs to be more planning on ACTIONs end to determine how the shifts are run. But unrealistic and foolish demands on pay won’t help the position of the union or give them any support.

If drivers choose not to take fares then they should be docked 100%+ of their pay. It is not the way grown ups should behave.

Ah the situation where both parties are both idiots. Both the Government and the drivers need to give in and negotiate, although it appears as though the drivers are but Stanhopeless is not.

Stanhope needs to admit that the drivers here get paid more in comparison to other places to actually attract people to drive the buses, rather than being greedy. To get people to your workplace in this city you need to pay well, otherwise they will just go elsewhere.

The original agreement was based on a 5 day work week, with weekend work optional and voluntary. There is a condition that drivers get paid slightly higher on the basis that most will volunteer to do some weekend work, to use that as an excuse to now not want to pay any penalty rates for compulsory weekend rostering is idiotic.

The fact that mechanics have to work overtime on weekends, in addition to their weekday work and with I assume no penalty rates, to ensure the buses are refuelled and working is an example of how inadequate the management of the place must be. One would think with proper rostering, there should be enough mechanics to be working in the place without them normally having to do overtime.

What needs to happen is the Government to give in and pay penalty rates for weekend work (I believe the drivers only want 0.5 extra) and the drivers to agree that the business is a 7 day one and that a portion of them will be required to work on a weekend.

Even with this fixed, ACTION are useless on every day of the week ending in y. Build a better network and people will catch a bus.

Mysteryman said :

Want more money/better conditions? Work harder. Stop crapping on the public.

How would working harder get the mechanics better money/conditions? Surely if they worked harder management would yet again reduce the numbers in the workshops.

Jivrashia said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

The main point of industrial action is to inconvenience ones employer rather than gain support.

How about a free ride then? i.e. don’t collect fee from the bus riders.

There are way to hurt employers without hurting those that don’t deserve it.

We were planning to not collect fares for a week last year but management gave us letters saying they would dock us 60-140% (this varied between different shifts, no idea how mgmt worked it out) of our pay if we did so. The union then took them to the commision and the commision said they could only dock us 20% of our pay if we didn’t collect fares.

Jivrashia said :

colourful sydney racing identity said :

The main point of industrial action is to inconvenience ones employer rather than gain support.

How about a free ride then? i.e. don’t collect fee from the bus riders.

There are way to hurt employers without hurting those that don’t deserve it.

Because the problem here is with those who refuel and maintain the buses, and the action that those people can take is to stop working over time. The drivers would have to implement the non collecting of fairs and they are not the ones taking action. They merely can’t work because of the action that has been taken.

Spot on, Random, And, let’s face it, weekend buses have been RS since the big timetable change a few years ago.

colourful sydney racing identity said :

The main point of industrial action is to inconvenience ones employer rather than gain support.

How about a free ride then? i.e. don’t collect fee from the bus riders.

There are way to hurt employers without hurting those that don’t deserve it.

screaming banshee4:21 pm 27 Apr 11

Time to sack the lot of them, including that arsehat at the top.

colourful sydney racing identity3:31 pm 27 Apr 11

Mysteryman said :

I understand that striking is supposed to raise support for the strikers .

not necesarily, the main point of industrial action is to inconvenience ones employer rather than gain support.

It’s more like work-to-rule than a strike, and the fact that it’s impacting on services is proof that the mechanics are right about being understaffed.

Typsy McStaggers1:40 pm 27 Apr 11

I agree with the above posters, even though I’m not a regular bus catcher this is too much.

I sent in a piece of my mind through the ACTION website on the weekend after Good Friday when I noticed an elderly lady waiting at the bus stop over the road from me. I went across and tried to explain the bus wouldn’t be coming today, she was confused and upset, with a bag full of Easter eggs for her grand-children, and not able to see them on a special day. I offered to give her a lift to where ever she needed to go but she declined.

I’d urge everyone to send your thoughts via the ACTION website.

Mysteryman said :

Want more money/better conditions? Work harder. Stop crapping on the public.

Or go to the mines as a heavy vehicle mechanic, earned double the money, work half as much.

The ‘if you don’t like it then quit’ approach is very attractive… Pay the mechanics more money. Don’t give a cent to the drivers though 😀

I understand that striking is supposed to raise support for the strikers due to the increased awareness generated by inconveniencing the general public, but this sort of thing annoying me so much that I find myself throwing my support against the strikers, rather than in favour of them. They are really creating a pain in the ass for a lot of people. Want more money/better conditions? Work harder. Stop crapping on the public.

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