22 June 2010

'Support Bus Drivers' Rally

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SUPPORT THE DRIVERS!
ACTION Bus Drivers and Staff will hold a 24-hour work stoppage this Friday 25th. They are asking for your support.

Drivers are currently engaged in an industrial campaign for a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement that doesn’t reduce hard-won pay and conditions.

Management are trying to force through changes including compulsory weekend shifts without penalty rates, plans to remove part-time worker restrictions, a change in the employment composition toward majority part-time, and an effective pay cut.

The modest demands put forward by the TWU – that employment and wage conditions simply remain the same – have been largely dismissed by ACTION, who threatened drivers with severe fines for participating in a planned fare-strike.

Our drivers will not accept these attacks by management, and will need our support in their upcoming action.

Workers Solidarity Canberra plans to hold a public demonstration to coincide with the industrial action, and to make a visible display of our support for the drivers.

Please join us, bring your friends, and show the ACT Government that we value our public transport service and support our bus drivers.

‘SUPPORT THE DRIVERS’ RALLY.
FRIDAY 25th from 12pm.
Legislative Assembly.

To find out more please email us at: wsncampaigns@gmail.com

Workers Solidarity Canberra

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Sounds like an interesting event, i’ll take the bus there…. oh nevermind

bugmenot said :

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.

Agreed.

Can the drivers please ask for some more bus driver training as part of their salary package?

LMR (post #5) You should be extremely grateful for having the opportunity of concession fares, When I worked in Victoria and in Queensland the students there had to pay FULL FARE – there were no concession fares for senior teenagers. I saw 14 year olds paying adult fare to go to and from school every day. So think yourself lucky. If you don’t have your concession card and you are charged full fare that can be compared to getting caught driving a car and not having a license.
On another issue some schools (in the ACT) would not issue concession fares to students who had part time jobs. Concession fares are in fact subsidised fares like the pension concession.There are strict requirements for the issue of concession (subsidised) fares. I think that requirement might have changed now.

troll-sniffer10:08 am 23 Jun 10

In the immortal words of the Kerrigans: “Mate, tell them they’re dreaming”. (Paraphrased of course)

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?

I dont think you guys seem to understand the main issue. YES they are getting offered a payRISE, however for the majority of them it will be a payCUT as they will be forced from full time work into part-time work.

How would you like it if the Government said hey we are increasing your salary, but you now have to work 25% less. Which also means you only get 75% of that salary now.

I had to get on a bus to work early in the morning the other day because my battery was flat, and I only had a $20 note. Kind driver let me ride for free as he couldn’t change the note. Good on them all.

bugmenot, when a bus doesn’t turn up or comes late it’s generally not the driver’s fault. Either the bus has broken down (happens a lot) or the timetable is unreasonable (very common, hence late running).
Have you ever contacted Action or asked the late-running driver the reason why? No, of course you haven’t! It’s much easier to make false assumptions and come on here bravely making wild accusations when you can’t be bothered to find out why in the first place.
Until you do, perhaps it’s you who should stop whinging.

Clown Killer10:37 pm 22 Jun 10

This rabble can shove their whingy little hissy fit up where the sun don’t shine, pull their buttocks up over their ears and waddle away like spastic turtles. This dispute is about little more than the unbridled greed of the unions and their members squabbling to get their fat snouts into the taxpayer funded trough.

upstandingcitizen said :

Who wants ACTION managemet to reduce fulltime staff so that part time bus drivers have to wait six years or over until going fulltime?

Don’t like drivers having to work part time? How about giving back the past pay rises that were paid for by the drivers agreeing to higher part time ratios and split shifts? Problem solved.

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.

Actually the management did not do anything the law didn’t require them to do. And free travel is hardly a magnanimous gesture by the drivers – its not their money they are giving away. And why should people get paid their full pay for doing only some of their job?

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).

georgesgenitals6:15 pm 22 Jun 10

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…

upstandingcitizen5:44 pm 22 Jun 10

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!

upstandingcitizen3:52 pm 22 Jun 10

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.

neanderthalsis3:34 pm 22 Jun 10

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.

upstandingcitizen3:27 pm 22 Jun 10

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!

Woody Mann-Caruso3:07 pm 22 Jun 10

*Googles ‘barney stinson’*

Neither.

georgesgenitals3:03 pm 22 Jun 10

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

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

Barney Stinson awesome or Mark Skaife awesome?

SmileOnTrial2:58 pm 22 Jun 10

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.

Woody Mann-Caruso2:51 pm 22 Jun 10

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.

georgesgenitals1:47 pm 22 Jun 10

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.

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