NEW UPDATE - BUS SERVICES RESUMING THURSDAY OCT 15

By burning batsu. 06/09/09, 11:11 am

UPDATE - October 13th

After being threatened with the loss of their contracts with ARTA, NZ BUS has agreed to lift their notice of lockout and resume services effective as of 4am Thursday October 15th.

~~Please note: This ONLY affects the AUCKLAND region. Go Wellington and the hutt valley flyer will be unaffected.~~

I regret to inform that due to the unions and NZBUS/Infratil being unable to reach an agreement in recent pay negotiations, NZBUS has issued it's drivers with a notice of lockout in response to the notice of industrial action issued by the union.

This means as of 4am Thursday October 8th until further notice, NO BUSES from the following companies will be running: Metrolink, THE LINK, Go West, Waka Pacific, Northstar.

Ritchies, Birkenhead Transport, Howick and Eastern, Bayes, and any other NON-NZBUS affiliated companies will still be running.

Please check maxx.co.nz to see if the service( s ) that you catch will be disrupted.

I will keep everyone updated as best I can with any changes.
Please note that the union did NOT wish to resort to strike action, rather the industrial action issued was a "work-to-rule", NZBUS issued the lockout notice voluntarily and of their own choice.
It is currently unknown how long the lockout will last.

The company has made an offer to the union which is apparently
worth considering and voting on, so the lockout and industrial action
has been temporarily called off, and buses will run as usual. I will
keep you updated on any further developments.
UPDATE (6 October): The Auckland Combined Unions have once again issued notice of Work-to-rule effective as of October 8th, while nothing has been confirmed as of the present point in time, we are preparing for the possibility of the company retaliating with a notice of lockout like they did last time we issued a work-to-rule notice.

The key reasons behind this are 1. Despite several negotiation meetings, the company are unwilling to give the drivers a wage rate suited to the work that they do and what they put up with on a daily basis, and most importantly, 2. The fact that they have revoked any back-pay that the drivers are entitled to, our current contract having expired as of early july, thus denying union workers up to HUNDREDS of dollars in back pay.

I'll post again tomorrow with further notice of what happens.

-EDIT - OCTOBER 12th - The bus drivers of the Tramways, Akarana, NDU (National Distribution Union) and EPMU (Engineers, printers and manufacturers union) apologise to the general public for any continued inconvenience the general public may be experiencing during the lockout action being issued by the company. We, most of all, feel it is extremely unfair that the company is able to hold not just the drivers, but the ENTIRE CITY to ransom by withholding vital services to the ratepayers.

As of the current point in time, the Auckland Council has issued an ultimatum to Infratil (NZBUS), the article about which can be found
here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10602788 which basically states that if the bus company does not resolve this dispute and lift their lockout notice, they risk losing their contracts, which will then be given to other bus companies.

Amazingly, the company appears to have dismissed this as a scare tactic, when they SHOULD be taking this VERY seriously, as this is
something that WILL drive the company under completely if they lose their contracts, as they will have no means of income to support their
employees (no contracts = no subsidies), and the bus drivers and mechanics will simply leave the company in search of greener pastures,
namely those of the other bus companies that will pick up NZBUS's contracts and be in need of more drivers.

We hope that the situation will be resolved some time this week.-

By fleyer. 06/09/09, 11:14 am

Bugger not my school bus! Stuff

By doeknuts. 06/09/09, 11:35 am

FROM Wednesday?? So this strike continues for indefinite?

Thank god I walk to school every morning...>.<

By burning batsu. 06/09/09, 11:51 am

It really depends on how long it takes for NZBUS to resume negotiations with the unions. It could be a day, it could be 2 weeks (I dearly hope NOT though, I don't think my budget could stretch THAT far...)

By Kat. 06/09/09, 11:52 am

cars and trains ftw lol

By fleyer. 06/09/09, 11:55 am

I have to say I like my trains best,
I've only ever caught a bus other than my school one once =D Man my friends got me lost and it was my first bus ride XD
=D *noob*

By **Tamoo**. 06/09/09, 12:35 pm

Wait. What.

By Ginger Ninja. 06/09/09, 02:33 pm

Ohh that is not good o.o

thank god i catch trains but some of my friends are NOT going to be happy :3

By **JVCA**. 06/09/09, 02:35 pm

Yay for being out east!

By Ginger Ninja. 06/09/09, 02:42 pm

~~Is there like a website where we can read more or something? :3~~

Dont worry, i found it all by myself Very Happy

By secretasianman. 06/09/09, 02:46 pm

uh... http://www.linkbus.co.nz/news-and-events/media-release.php?id=31

By Ginger Ninja. 06/09/09, 03:03 pm

Yes i found it Very Happy

And proceded to link it to all my friends.

@BB- btw they say many thanks to you for without this thread most of them might not have found out :3

By burning batsu. 06/09/09, 03:07 pm

That media release is heavily biased in favor of the company to make them look more appealing to the public and put the union in a bad light. They have glossed over some important facts that I will list below.

-while they are offering a 3.5/3/3.4 increase over 3 years they do not mention that it is at a flat rate, they are reducing all overtime From 1.25x normal rate to time only.
- they also do not state that they intend on reducing the maximum hours a driver can work in a single week to 48 hours, severely limiting what (if ANY) overtime a driver can do.
- they also make it sound like we actually said we were going to outright go on Strike. This is NOT the case. We said we would be doing a work to rule, and they responded by locking us out altogether. So if anyone is to blame for service disruptions it is THEM.

Edit: oh btw it also doesn't mention that "mr fulljames", the one that released the press statement is also head of the company negotiation team. -.-

By sakuramiyabi. 07/09/09, 01:43 am

physics I RELY ON THESE FRICKING BUSES oh well ... gives me an excuse to stay over at becky's more 8DDD jk

but sugar honey iced tea ... will have catch a different bus company then

By Suixelo. 07/09/09, 08:15 am

...There goes the only form of transport back from my mum's house... Unless we catch the once a day ferry >> dnw.

By secretasianman. 07/09/09, 12:50 pm

kagerouhi wrote:: but sugar honey iced tea ... will have catch a different bus company then

LOL~ I didn't realize I was a bus company~~ Razz

By sakuramiyabi. 07/09/09, 01:07 pm

lol you can be my personal one 8DDD lol

notsosecretasianwomanbuses
XDDD

lol jk

but thats some stuff i really need done

ill figure my own way for uni TTWTT

By Kat. 07/09/09, 01:07 pm

your the S.A.M bus co lol

**Guest** Guest

secretasianman wrote:

kagerouhi wrote:: but sugar honey iced tea ... will have catch a different bus company then

LOL~ I didn't realize I was a bus company~~ Razz

ILOL'D.

SAM TRAVELLING ENTERPRISE.

By sakuramiyabi. 07/09/09, 01:13 pm

lol no its

NS.SAW BUSES LTD.

By secretasianman. 07/09/09, 01:23 pm

OH DEAR GOD I'M LIKE A BUS... WIDE AND LONG!!!

I need to go to the gym tomorrow!!!~~ sad

AHHH~~~

**Guest** Guest

XDDDDD /SOH AMUSED

By Kat. 07/09/09, 01:41 pm

and what spend 10 mins on the excercycle and then not go for another 2 weeks until you feel guilty

By secretasianman. 07/09/09, 01:44 pm

shuddup~~ I went this morning and felt awesome~~ Very Happy

By Kat. 07/09/09, 01:46 pm

he's not denying the length and style lol

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