7 April 2011

No buses on Sunday and bugger all on Saturday

| johnboy
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bus interchange

Territory And Municipal Services are warning that weekend services won’t be all they should be with mechanics downing tools:

Due to industrial action by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), there will be disruptions to this weekend’s bus services, James Roncon, Director, ACTION, announced today.

“The AMWU has placed a ban on overtime work which means that buses cannot be maintained or refuelled this weekend which cripples the bus service,” Mr Roncon said. “In order to minimise any disruption to Monday services a decision has had to be made to run a Sunday timetable on Saturday and cancel Sunday services.

“There may also be reductions in the number of wheelchair-accessible buses which run on Saturday due to difficulties in re-fuelling them.

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buzz819 said :

KB1971 said :

shadow boxer said :

@kb1971 are you serious, it’s unskilled labour that literally anyone can do, you probably shouldn’t do it if you have anger management issues but these guys are vastly overpaid.

Get in the bus and follow the sheet of left and rights you get handed.

I know a qualified spray painter who went driving act buses because it’s the worlds cushiest job.

30-40k a year max

I am definately serious. The skill level might be minimal to you (& some of the other posters here) & the level required to do the job daily moreso but just remember that same bus driver you a looking down your nose at can have up to 100 people lives (on the long buses) in his hands at any one time.

He is also responsible for $6-700,000 worth of publically owned equipment.

How do you think it would go if it all turned to s***? With the amount of buses running around this city they must be doing something right 😉

What are you talking about? Mums have been doing it for years, they can have up to 6 kid’s in one car, just means people who do family day care, by your rationality, should be getting close $70,000 a year.

How would it turn to sh!t? I mean any more then what it is now. I think the city will get by a lot better with out buses, then other lower paid professions ie. Teachers, Police, Firies, Nurses, Correction’s (well maybe not Correction’s) and Defence personnel. They all do a lot more for the community then bus drivers.

There is a day set down to do maintenance, yet no one is rostered on for it? Sounds like the worst decision ever to me.

Bus drivers get more weekly pay to cover weekend loading, yet they don’t work weekends, what a wank. Bus drivers think they have a hard job, well at the end of the day, if you were to crash a bus on the suburban streets of Canberra, the worst that would happen is a squashed car, maybe one or two people in that car would be injured, no worse than a doctor or nurse misdiagnosing someone, or a firie no putting out a house fire fast enough.

I have been to a number of bus crashes, full of kids, where people have been seriously hurt, yet not one person on the bus was hurt, so don’t pull that tripe out here. People on the buses are safe.

You think you get paid more for that, I doubt it, because the law would keep you pretty well in line, whether you are getting paid $30k or $200k.

You were the ones that wanted to be bus drivers, you were the ones that applied for the job, I’m sure at the time you knew there was no prospect for promotion. So just deal with it.

When Action fails and it will, and not one of the bus drivers are kept on staff and there are an extra, what 100 people with out a job because of it, all you bus drivers can thank yourselves for driving the company into the ground with your stupid grabs at money and strikes.

ps. Just having a look at Job sites around Australia, bus drivers, on average are earning $48,000 – $56,000 pa. That includes places like Sydney, where public transport, well works. Have a think how lucky you guys are and try and work around the idea’s that you are worth one millions dollars, because quite frankly you’re not.

So by the figure that you lot always quote ($59k/yr) we aren’t that overpaid if at all if the typical Australian bus driver is on $48-56K especially given that wages in Canberra are generally higher and the cost of living is second only to Sydney IIRC.

shadow boxer said :

What is your bus doing on the wrong side of the road ?

.

Blown tyre, broken steering, aqua plane, swerving to miss an obstacle….need I go on?

Agree that the wages are higher due to the old days prior to self government. Mind you, if I were on a good thing I would try to hold onto it.

shadow boxer2:53 pm 11 Apr 11

What is your bus doing on the wrong side of the road ?

Again it’s not that hard, perhaps I should have included keep left but I thought it was a given..

Those salaries are just a hangover from the bad old days when the only way to get a job on the buses was through your dad or a mate and turned up when you felt like it.

Where’s Chris Corrigan when you need him. A clandistine rebel army of ninja bus drivers moving in over the weekend should sort it out.

buzz819 said :

I have been to a number of bus crashes, full of kids, where people have been seriously hurt, yet not one person on the bus was hurt, so don’t pull that tripe out here. People on the buses are safe.

You think you get paid more for that, I doubt it, because the law would keep you pretty well in line, whether you are getting paid $30k or $200k.

You were the ones that wanted to be bus drivers, you were the ones that applied for the job, I’m sure at the time you knew there was no prospect for promotion. So just deal with it.

When Action fails and it will, and not one of the bus drivers are kept on staff and there are an extra, what 100 people with out a job because of it, all you bus drivers can thank yourselves for driving the company into the ground with your stupid grabs at money and strikes.

ps. Just having a look at Job sites around Australia, bus drivers, on average are earning $48,000 – $56,000 pa. That includes places like Sydney, where public transport, well works. Have a think how lucky you guys are and try and work around the idea’s that you are worth one millions dollars, because quite frankly you’re not.

I snipped a bit out. I will also state that I am not a bus driver so I am not sure where you are directing the “you” on your comments.

Did you attend the crash in Kempsie that killed 30 odd people & injured many more? No I dont think so.

No person moving in 12 tonnes of steel are safe & if you think a head on with two bussed annot happen here you are extremely nieve. Thats what I mean by it all turning to shit.

Please quantify how Action will fail for me please? Its owned by the government, how will it fail?

Man I would love to see what some of your people do for a living, I bet I could poke holes in that.

KB1971 said :

shadow boxer said :

@kb1971 are you serious, it’s unskilled labour that literally anyone can do, you probably shouldn’t do it if you have anger management issues but these guys are vastly overpaid.

Get in the bus and follow the sheet of left and rights you get handed.

I know a qualified spray painter who went driving act buses because it’s the worlds cushiest job.

30-40k a year max

I am definately serious. The skill level might be minimal to you (& some of the other posters here) & the level required to do the job daily moreso but just remember that same bus driver you a looking down your nose at can have up to 100 people lives (on the long buses) in his hands at any one time.

He is also responsible for $6-700,000 worth of publically owned equipment.

How do you think it would go if it all turned to s***? With the amount of buses running around this city they must be doing something right 😉

What are you talking about? Mums have been doing it for years, they can have up to 6 kid’s in one car, just means people who do family day care, by your rationality, should be getting close $70,000 a year.

How would it turn to sh!t? I mean any more then what it is now. I think the city will get by a lot better with out buses, then other lower paid professions ie. Teachers, Police, Firies, Nurses, Correction’s (well maybe not Correction’s) and Defence personnel. They all do a lot more for the community then bus drivers.

There is a day set down to do maintenance, yet no one is rostered on for it? Sounds like the worst decision ever to me.

Bus drivers get more weekly pay to cover weekend loading, yet they don’t work weekends, what a wank. Bus drivers think they have a hard job, well at the end of the day, if you were to crash a bus on the suburban streets of Canberra, the worst that would happen is a squashed car, maybe one or two people in that car would be injured, no worse than a doctor or nurse misdiagnosing someone, or a firie no putting out a house fire fast enough.

I have been to a number of bus crashes, full of kids, where people have been seriously hurt, yet not one person on the bus was hurt, so don’t pull that tripe out here. People on the buses are safe.

You think you get paid more for that, I doubt it, because the law would keep you pretty well in line, whether you are getting paid $30k or $200k.

You were the ones that wanted to be bus drivers, you were the ones that applied for the job, I’m sure at the time you knew there was no prospect for promotion. So just deal with it.

When Action fails and it will, and not one of the bus drivers are kept on staff and there are an extra, what 100 people with out a job because of it, all you bus drivers can thank yourselves for driving the company into the ground with your stupid grabs at money and strikes.

ps. Just having a look at Job sites around Australia, bus drivers, on average are earning $48,000 – $56,000 pa. That includes places like Sydney, where public transport, well works. Have a think how lucky you guys are and try and work around the idea’s that you are worth one millions dollars, because quite frankly you’re not.

shadow boxer11:22 am 11 Apr 11

Mate, it’s bus driving ffs…

I know they threaten to kill all our kids as soon as pay is mentioned but it’s not that hard.

Go forward, turn left or right depending on what the piece of paper says, stop at the stops, go home.

shadow boxer said :

@kb1971 are you serious, it’s unskilled labour that literally anyone can do, you probably shouldn’t do it if you have anger management issues but these guys are vastly overpaid.

Get in the bus and follow the sheet of left and rights you get handed.

I know a qualified spray painter who went driving act buses because it’s the worlds cushiest job.

30-40k a year max

I am definately serious. The skill level might be minimal to you (& some of the other posters here) & the level required to do the job daily moreso but just remember that same bus driver you a looking down your nose at can have up to 100 people lives (on the long buses) in his hands at any one time.

He is also responsible for $6-700,000 worth of publically owned equipment.

How do you think it would go if it all turned to s***? With the amount of buses running around this city they must be doing something right 😉

georgesgenitals6:35 am 11 Apr 11

Bussie said :

georgesgenitals said :

farnarkler said :

If this city has house prices the way they are then good on bus drivers for being paid what they are.

Having bus drivers earning $100k per year is a big reason as to why this city has such high prices.

georgesgenitals said :

farnarkler said :

If this city has house prices the way they are then good on bus drivers for being paid what they are.

Having bus drivers earning $100k per year is a big reason as to why this city has such high prices.

Hardly any drivers earn $100k a year. Even if many were please explain to this mere bus driver how we’d have such a huge effect on house prices?

There are plenty of jobs in this town that require only a small amount of time in training to get into that pay well (maybe not $100k per year, but certainly at or above average Australian income). This gives the local population larger buying power compared to other places. And one of the way this manifests itself is higher house prices.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not that worried, simply making an observation.

pandaman said :

Very Busy said :

shadow boxer said :

30-40k a year max

Any credibility you might have had has just been lost on that ridiculous statement. Nobody except maybe school leavers would work 40 hours per week for that money. There wouldn’t be anyone to drive the buses except perhaps a few down and out P platers. That would work really well wouldn’t it!!!!

The only people with a lack of credibility here are those claiming that someone with a truck licence and an in house training course under their belt, working a 40hr week driving are for some reason worth substantially more than any transport worker in private industry. Were they working for an employer with half a brain and a bit of business nouse rather than the ACT government, who seem happy to roll over every time the unions start talking total crap, they’d be paid substantially less.

I wonder if the inflated wage rate for Action has an effect on Deanes ability to retain staff? Given that they have to turn a profit, and there’s this bastard of a subsidised monster next door that suffers zero consequences for poor performance, you’d have to think that it stifles their opportunities a little, and may go some way towards explaining why it’s cheaper to drive than use Deanes a lot of the time.

I’m pretty sure Deanes also get some government subsidies.

Those of you who constantly whine about how ridiculously overpaid we are should stop to consider
that despite the supposedly cushy nature of the job ACTION has constant trouble retaining enough drivers.

As I said on the last thread about this, we are basically APS 4s which as far as I know is pretty much entry level in the public service these days. I’ve never been an office worker so I don’t know how hard the job is but I’d be surprised if being a brand new pube wasn’t easier than being a bus driver.

However I doubt I’m going to convince any of you but I can reassure you that ACTION staff intend to stick together to defend our pay and conditions.

georgesgenitals said :

farnarkler said :

If this city has house prices the way they are then good on bus drivers for being paid what they are.

Having bus drivers earning $100k per year is a big reason as to why this city has such high prices.

georgesgenitals said :

farnarkler said :

If this city has house prices the way they are then good on bus drivers for being paid what they are.

Having bus drivers earning $100k per year is a big reason as to why this city has such high prices.

Hardly any drivers earn $100k a year. Even if many were please explain to this mere bus driver how we’d have such a huge effect on house prices?

dvaey said :

dtc said :

Why is refuelling an overtime job? I mean, its on the weekend but surely they pay people a weekend rate since presumably fuel is needed every weekend.

Hang on, is it really that hard to refuel a bus? Car and truck drivers seem to have no troubles refueling their own vehicles, even on weekends.

No, clearly it’s not but there are guys in the depot whose sole job is to clean and fuel the buses. They are part of the workshops and their agreement so they’ve also banned overtime.

I’m sure drivers could fuel the buses (many years ago they did) but if we were asked to we’d tell management to fuck off because we’re not scabs. Hard as it might be to believe for someone like yourself who seems to revel in their shit working conditions and thinks everyone else should share them some of us still think workers interests are different to those of the bosses and that the best way to defend those interests is by sticking together.

Lets just remember a few key points:
-Drivers are not to blame
-Drivers are not allowed by the union to fuel buses and there is enough buses in the fleet to do the entire weekend network without having to re-fuel one, but you have to remember that IF a bus breaks down in the middle of the intersection and there is no mechanics the we’re f@#ked!

If anyone is to blame for this it is the government and the unions for not reaching an agreement!

farnarkler said :

What’s been ignored in the debate about driver’s salaries is that they don’t have much of a career ladder. First off you’re a part-time driver, then you can become a full-time driver. That’s it. The tertiary educated have a lower starting salary but over a 40 year career, most would earn many times more than a bus driver.

If this city has house prices the way they are then good on bus drivers for being paid what they are.

If your doing work that could be done by an unskilled 22 year old, you do not deserve anything more then $60,000 a year. That is at the top bracket.

If you think you have a hard job because you have to transport people, you need to go be a nurse, or a wards men, a correctional officer or a check out chick, all jobs that get paid less with worse conditions. Wake up to yourselves, you are all a waste of space and money.

georgesgenitals3:42 pm 10 Apr 11

farnarkler said :

If this city has house prices the way they are then good on bus drivers for being paid what they are.

Having bus drivers earning $100k per year is a big reason as to why this city has such high prices.

What’s been ignored in the debate about driver’s salaries is that they don’t have much of a career ladder. First off you’re a part-time driver, then you can become a full-time driver. That’s it. The tertiary educated have a lower starting salary but over a 40 year career, most would earn many times more than a bus driver.

If this city has house prices the way they are then good on bus drivers for being paid what they are.

georgesgenitals7:10 am 10 Apr 11

JC said :

Actually with the drivers the story goes they negotiated their weekend and afterhours penalty rates into a higher 7 day a week hourly rate but now don’t want to work weekends or afterhours. Fine I say cut their base rate and pay penalties to those who will work weekends.

Yep, nail on the head. Clearly it would be better to return to normal rates and apply penalty loadings to the less desirable shifts.

Action_on_ACTION9:18 pm 09 Apr 11

Our group, Canberrans Demanding Action on ACTION, is devoted to fixing the appalling state of ACT Public Transport. We are a volunteer, not-for-profit organisation. At present, we are in the process of establishing and building a profile on this issue. Our ultimate goal is to make Canberra’s public transport system an election issue in October 2012.

We feel this latest strike is indicative of the problems with ACTION management. Though we acknowledge in this instance it is the AMWU and not the TWU, previous industrial action has been caused by unnecessary animosity between drivers and management and vice-versa. All parties need to do more to create a more harmonious workplace.

We also oppose the sale of ACTION and firmly believe Canberra’s interests are best served by public transport remaining in public hands.

You can visit our website at http://www.actiononaction.org.au. We can be contacted by email at actiononaction@gmail.com. We’re also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Canberrans-Demanding-Action-on-Action/168088979881738 and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/actiononaction.

shadow boxer2:35 pm 09 Apr 11

100k + a year for driving a bus, it’s totally absurd.

Let the school leavers and uni students do it, i’m sure those massive 4 hour shifts wont bother them to much.

Re the debate about how much ACTION staff earn per hour, and whether it is ‘more than they deserve’ – I would think it would essentially be market driven.

If ACTION can’t get/retain staff at what they are offering, it should offer those at the coalface a better deal. Trouble is, (generally speaking), ‘management’ often only seems to like the idea of the market setting pricing/wages etc when it works in management’s favour.

Canberra has a very low employment rate, and workers are in demand. When there is a high rate of unemployment, as has happened in Canberra in the past, ‘management’ are the first ones to refuse pay increases to their staff – usually on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis.

Seems the tables have turned. IMHO, ACTION management should suck it up.

Very Busy said :

shadow boxer said :

30-40k a year max

Any credibility you might have had has just been lost on that ridiculous statement. Nobody except maybe school leavers would work 40 hours per week for that money. There wouldn’t be anyone to drive the buses except perhaps a few down and out P platers. That would work really well wouldn’t it!!!!

The only people with a lack of credibility here are those claiming that someone with a truck licence and an in house training course under their belt, working a 40hr week driving are for some reason worth substantially more than any transport worker in private industry. Were they working for an employer with half a brain and a bit of business nouse rather than the ACT government, who seem happy to roll over every time the unions start talking total crap, they’d be paid substantially less.

I wonder if the inflated wage rate for Action has an effect on Deanes ability to retain staff? Given that they have to turn a profit, and there’s this bastard of a subsidised monster next door that suffers zero consequences for poor performance, you’d have to think that it stifles their opportunities a little, and may go some way towards explaining why it’s cheaper to drive than use Deanes a lot of the time.

shadow boxer said :

30-40k a year max

Any credibility you might have had has just been lost on that ridiculous statement. Nobody except maybe school leavers would work 40 hours per week for that money. There wouldn’t be anyone to drive the buses except perhaps a few down and out P platers. That would work really well wouldn’t it!!!!

shadow boxer11:31 am 09 Apr 11

@kb1971 are you serious, it’s unskilled labour that literally anyone can do, you probably shouldn’t do it if you have anger management issues but these guys are vastly overpaid.

Get in the bus and follow the sheet of left and rights you get handed.

I know a qualified spray painter who went driving act buses because it’s the worlds cushiest job.

30-40k a year max

Snave81 said :

Any light rail network, if one was ever implemented in the ACT, would not have an as extensive network as a bus network. And private bus fares would likely to be higher than Action’s.

Its not a one-or-the-other in most places that chose to develop light rail.
By all means, sell off some buses if you have light rail. But use the remainder to clement the network and deliver people to the nearest rail hub or delta.

How many drivers per bus, and support staff per driver do we have again?

That’s why I drive a car, can’t rely on public transport, I can’t count how many times my daughters came back home after waiting for a bus that didn’t turn up.

shadow boxer said :

This is the real problem that privatising to Deannes would fix

http://www.actbus.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79:rookie-bus-drivers-earn-59000&catid=4:articles&Itemid=3

So, you are jelous that your tertiary education doesn’t pay you that much?

Man, you need to get a grip. While it seems to be an easy job, you go & drive a 12 tonne piece of metal, plastic and rubber down the road & not run over the first dichead over that die es in front of you at the lights. Then there is the people, from the self important types who can’t be bothered to say hello, the junkies & the non English speaking communication issues.

Then there are the split shifts, starting early, having 4 hours off in the middle of the day & then returning to work later in the afternoon. Turns a normal 7:21 for you & me to a 12 hour day. Pain in the arse.

I don’t think I could go a week without knifing some idiot in a car, all you have to do is sit up the front seat to see what goes on.

Good on a Action bus drivers for negotiating a good pay rate.

miz said :

Davey said: ‘Surely they pay people a weekend rate’
Bus drivers don’t get weekend rates, so I don’t suppose the mechanics do either.

I wouldn’t want to work weekends (ie my own time and family time) without some remunerative acknowledgement. If the EBA they are negotiating removes overtime or expects it by ‘putting it in the roster’ regardless, I would down tools too. Sometimes, (general comment about agreement negotiations) management don’t seem to understand the word ‘negotiation’, and just want to bulldoze certain reforms in (usually ones that suit the bean counters but are ignominious to actual workers).

Actually with the drivers the story goes they negotiated their weekend and afterhours penalty rates into a higher 7 day a week hourly rate but now don’t want to work weekends or afterhours. Fine I say cut their base rate and pay penalties to those who will work weekends.

As for mechanics, as someone else said I really don’t follow this. I would have though Action would have had some mechanics either on duty or on call (being paid to do so) to cover weekend work and I sure the hell don’t understand why a mechanic is refueling a bus.

Deref said :

miz said :

Davey said: ‘Surely they pay people a weekend rate’
Bus drivers don’t get weekend rates, so I don’t suppose the mechanics do either.

I think their pay well covers weekends.
http://www.actbus.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79:rookie-bus-drivers-earn-59000&catid=4:articles&Itemid=3

Wow it’s good to know that the unions head is so far up it’s arse that they are saying that bus drivers are more important then firefighters, what a wanker.

If bus drivers really do make that much money, they should hang their head’s in shame, they are the reason that Action run’s on such a high deficit.

miz said :

Davey said: ‘Surely they pay people a weekend rate’
Bus drivers don’t get weekend rates, so I don’t suppose the mechanics do either.

I think their pay well covers weekends.
http://www.actbus.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79:rookie-bus-drivers-earn-59000&catid=4:articles&Itemid=3

gooterz said :

So when can we sell the network to deans and use that money to fund a lightrail?

When we’ve got the extra billion or so dollars to flush.

gooterz said :

So when can we sell the network to deans and use that money to fund a lightrail?

Some people just don’t get it. If ACTION is privatised it will not be “sold”. ACTION is, and always will be, no matter who runs it, a heavily subsidised organisation. If ACTION is ever privatised it would simply mean that instead of the ACT Government running it, it would pay another operator to run it. The savings would be small, the service would be even worse and the passengers would probably pay more and therefore there would be fewer of them. The people most disadvantaged by this would be the elderly and others who don’t have other tranport options.

groonsnout said :

But most critical in this whole discussion:

Will the busses (sic) to the brumbies game be running on saturday?

Yes buses to and from the Brumbies game will now be operated by Deane’s Transit Group – so standard-length buses only.

But most critical in this whole discussion:

Will the busses to the brumbies game be running on saturday?

gooterz said :

So when can we sell the network to deans and use that money to fund a lightrail?

Somehow I don’t think that Deane’s would buy Action for anywhere close to the $2 Billion a light rail would cost. Any light rail network, if one was ever implemented in the ACT, would not have an as extensive network as a bus network. And private bus fares would likely to be higher than Action’s. Looks like ACT residents will have to make to do driving or the buses.

I demand free rides on monday

Davey said: ‘Surely they pay people a weekend rate’
Bus drivers don’t get weekend rates, so I don’t suppose the mechanics do either.

I wouldn’t want to work weekends (ie my own time and family time) without some remunerative acknowledgement. If the EBA they are negotiating removes overtime or expects it by ‘putting it in the roster’ regardless, I would down tools too. Sometimes, (general comment about agreement negotiations) management don’t seem to understand the word ‘negotiation’, and just want to bulldoze certain reforms in (usually ones that suit the bean counters but are ignominious to actual workers).

Actually #4, it’s the AMWU this time, not the TWU.

shadow boxer7:58 pm 07 Apr 11

Action sucks, I actually relented the other day, someone told me school bus travel is free in NSW so I looked into seeing if it was an option for the four kids.

It would be cheaper to get taxi’s. Back to the car for us

screaming banshee5:04 pm 07 Apr 11

Pathetic on all counts

FFS!?!

The TWU REALLY wants to get ACTION privatized by the sounds of it.

So when can we sell the network to deans and use that money to fund a lightrail?

dtc said :

Why is refuelling an overtime job? I mean, its on the weekend but surely they pay people a weekend rate since presumably fuel is needed every weekend.

Hang on, is it really that hard to refuel a bus? Car and truck drivers seem to have no troubles refueling their own vehicles, even on weekends.

Why is refuelling an overtime job? I mean, its on the weekend but surely they pay people a weekend rate since presumably fuel is needed every weekend.

And do that many buses break down that often that we we cant go an entire two days without the fleet being destroyed?

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