'Support Bus Drivers' Rally

I will NOT support the drivers because its a “public transport system” and the drivers are holding the public to ransom. If I do not get to work on Friday then I do NOT get paid. I need the bus to get to and from work. If there is no bus service then i will NOT be happy with the drivers as it is their decision to take this service away from me. I pay my taxes which means I’m entitled to the public bus system. I have now lost all respect for bus drivers!!!!!!

“In fact, the ATO perhaps withstanding, I would assume ACTION bus drivers are probably the only public servants who work to cover a percentage of their own salaries.”

Do you really want me to open the can of whoop ass to blow your statement out of the water? Lets throw 2 examples of fee for service government departments

1. Parks and Wildlife who charge entry fees to national parks
2. Commonwealth training facilities who charge private companies to use their facilities

I can think of 50 more off hand

neanderthalsis said :

ACTION runs at a loss. It is heavily subsidised by the ACT Government because they are trying to promote their greenish credentials by supporting a public transport network that is highly inefficient.
IMHO ACTION should be privatised, drivers put on casual contracts that are designed to maximise route coverage and increase peak time services.

Get the organisation running at a profit or at least breaking even and then come and ask for a payrise.

Hmmm, that isn’t entirely true or fair. ACTION is provided primarily as a social service to people who for whatever reason can’t drive (e.g. too young, too old, can’t afford a car, no licence) in the same way that public housing is provided to people who can’t access the private housing market. You can’t expect it to be profitable.

Also, suggesting that bus drivers shouldn’t get a pay rise until ACTION is profitable seems unfair considering they just drive the buses. It’s like telling the 15 year old at the suburban Mc Donalds that he shouldn’t get a pay rise until the company executives in New York stop buying Beef from sources which cause deforestation.

That said, if I was a bus patron who was going to be left stranded on Friday I sure as hell wouldn’t be supporting them.

Sorry, ACTION drivers, you lost me on a previous time you went on strike and left me stranded.

That’s not the way to get your paying customers on side. I know that there’s a lot of argy-bargy with these things, but if the story in the CT this morning about 4 paid union organiers earning over $200k is true, then you deserve no support from the public.

I will say, however, that some individual drivers are very good (and others are fair to middling).

upstandingcitizen said :

dvaey said :

I sure wish I could go on strike from my job for 24hrs, demanding a payrise higher than what my boss had already offered, expecting the tax-payers to pick up my slack, and the whole time, knowing that my job is safe and secure because of the union behind me.

So stop whinging about people who are defending their hard earned rights and bloody well do it.

Hard earned rights… tee hee…

dvaey said :

I sure wish I could go on strike from my job for 24hrs, demanding a payrise higher than what my boss had already offered, expecting the tax-payers to pick up my slack, and the whole time, knowing that my job is safe and secure because of the union behind me.

So stop whinging about people who are defending their hard earned rights and bloody well do it.

dvaey said;
I sure wish I could go on strike from my job for 24hrs, demanding a payrise higher than what my boss had already offered, expecting the tax-payers to pick up my slack, and the whole time, knowing that my job is safe and secure because of the union behind me.

Well join a union, get involved in having input into your work conditions, and you can!

upstandingcitizen said :

Fantastic, I’ll be there! I support my drivers – who wants ACTION management to be allowed to cut the pay and conditions of people who we entrust our, and our childrens, safety with? Not me!

Others have pointed it out already in several threads, but management doesnt want to cut the pay, theyre actually offering a pay increase, just not enough for the union to be happy (when are they ever happy anyway).

upstandingcitizen said :

That would mean the person driving your children to school will, more likely than not, have to be working a second job to make ends meet!

Oh no, the horror of horrors, having to work *two* jobs, because youre not getting enough hours. It might surprise you to learn this, but lots of people DO have two jobs. I suspect their problem though, is that not many second jobs they get, would be paying them the same hourly rate as driving a bus (which is apparently too low). My reason for thinking that, is because if they had a second job that paid more, surely theyd give up the bus-driver job for the higher paying one?

upstandingcitizen said :

I personally work night shift occasionally and I know that night services will be the first to suffer..

I had to have a giggle at ‘night services’.. youre talking about it like theres more than 3 buses that run after sunset.

upstandingcitizen said :

The bus drivers care about their passengers – they wanted to give us all free rides for a week to make this point to management, what champs. But they couldn’t because ACTION management threatened to dock drivers most of, and in some cases all or MORE than, their pay if they did.

So, they wanted the tax-payer to have to foot the bill for the lost fares? Then realised it was a bad idea, when management said the striking drivers would pay for the lost fares, not the tax-payers. Wheres the problem??

I sure wish I could go on strike from my job for 24hrs, demanding a payrise higher than what my boss had already offered, expecting the tax-payers to pick up my slack, and the whole time, knowing that my job is safe and secure because of the union behind me.

I call bullshit, how many people are not going to goto work because of this that dont drive etc.
At least start with a half day strike/no fare day.. then if no go do a longer one.. No one’s really gonna care about the pay rate. Its 2010 not 1900’s if you want more pay find a different job, as there is always someone who likes the job that will be willing to work for the money offered.

What they’re doing will only anger the community and will not do what they think!

Just today i almost get to my stop and low and behold the bus comes early and doesn’t give a damn about me and keeps driving!

Still gotta love that Canadian guy in woden.. action needs more people like him and less of the people that hate the job!

Mind u the goverment may fix the wages when they wipe out surface parking in civic.. Everyone will have to pay $10 a day for buses!

UND3R74K3R said :

If they want Public Servant pay then Public Servants is what they need to become.

They are public servants, they work for the government. They service the public. In fact, the ATO perhaps withstanding, I would assume ACTION bus drivers are probably the only public servants who work to cover a percentage of their own salaries. I don’t see Roncon collecting a fare from the public every time he makes a managerial decision which affects bus users adversly or blatantly lies to the media and I’d bet my bottom dollar he gets paid more than bus drivers do!

I for one take issue with the fact that my tax dollars are being used to fund this silly git talking from his rectum to news reporters all day! Seems when he takes a break from the strenuous task lying to the public, he uses his overtime (and more of our tax dollars) to set about systematically destroying Canberras public transport. If he wants to save ACTION money, instead of cutting drivers pay he should quit and let someone competent take his place.

I always enjoy hearing whines about “effective pay cuts”. The truth is you have been offered a payrise, the militant union wankers want more and complain that it is below cost of living increases, CPI or a belief that because some other non-related industry was awarded a greater percentile increase that you deserve one too.

If you want a real payrise, how about a real increase in productivity and efficiency.

ACTION runs at a loss. It is heavily subsidised by the ACT Government because they are trying to promote their greenish credentials by supporting a public transport network that is highly inefficient.
IMHO ACTION should be privatised, drivers put on casual contracts that are designed to maximise route coverage and increase peak time services.

Get the organisation running at a profit or at least breaking even and then come and ask for a payrise.

Fantastic, I’ll be there! I support my drivers – who wants ACTION management to be allowed to cut the pay and conditions of people who we entrust our, and our childrens, safety with? Not me! Who wants ACTION managemet to reduce fulltime staff so that part time bus drivers have to wait six years or over until going fulltime? Not me! That would mean the person driving your children to school will, more likely than not, have to be working a second job to make ends meet! That is ridiculous! Not to mention that it just makes it easier for ACTION management to slash services whenever they like, making it even harder for us to get around. I personally work night shift occasionally and I know that night services will be the first to suffer (along with the drivers) if these changes are allowed to come through.

The bus drivers care about their passengers – they wanted to give us all free rides for a week to make this point to management, what champs. But they couldn’t because ACTION management threatened to dock drivers most of, and in some cases all or MORE than, their pay if they did. The drivers have effectively been forced by ACTION management to do this instead. It sucks, but it’s ACTION management who are to blame, not the drivers. But hey, seems to me like a good excuse not to make it to work on Friday 😉 maybe we should all go on strike!

*Googles ‘barney stinson’*

Neither.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

The guy who drives the bus I catch most days is awesome.

Barney Stinson awesome or Mark Skaife awesome?

No sympathy or support from me. If you dont like your job quit and get a new one rather than hold the public to ransom.

The guy who drives the bus I catch most days is awesome.

No sympathy here either. I lost all respect for bus drivers back in my teens when
bus drivers would charge school kids full price for not having a concession card, or
even not allow them on the bus even though they were clearly students, wearing school
uniforms.
Bus drivers were assholes then and I doubt much has changed.

Do the people who turn up get to help scream at ‘management’ and harass non-supporters in person?

I will start giving a ship about bus drivers if they start giving a shit about passengers.
You know, like being on time, or actually turning up.
Stopping their whinging while they still earn more than most might help, too.

…just don’t plan on catching a bus to get there…

What support do they want, you plan a fare strike and should be sacked because you are costing a major organisation alot of money, essentially its the same as theft.

Also they have some of the best conditions and equipment in australia and just abuse the fact that this is true.

If they want Public Servant pay then Public Servants is what they need to become.