The 1,000 drivers in the walkout, most of whom are members of the Tramways Union, normally carry about 30,000 passengers per day. Buses are the main form of public transport here.

The drivers are demanding an immediate wage increase to $16 (US$11.35) per hour from their current top rate of $13.94, back pay from last November when their contract expired, improved rest breaks, and shorter runs. The company has offered $15.33 next year, raising to $16 by 2007, effectively a three-and-a-half year contract, and $600 in lieu of back pay. Drivers especially object to the split shifts many are forced to work—which can mean a 12- to 14-hour day for eight hours’ pay, with a several-hour unpaid break in the middle. For this break they get a daily allowance of only $3.63.

The drivers struck for one day on April 4. With no movement on the part of the company, the union then announced that drivers would take 10-minute breaks at the end of each trip and not drive the last trip of the day if previous runs had pushed them into overtime. John Irving, a driver at the Roskill picket, noted the support he had received from his regular passengers for the action the drivers were taking. “Some drivers had been placing leaflets on the seats of their buses to explain the issues involved,” he said.

Leading up to the latest strike, Stagecoach had hoped for a split in the ranks of the four unions that organize the drivers. This is the first time they have combined in a dispute. The bosses were disappointed when an 11th-hour meeting of the 100 or so drivers belonging to the Akarana Drivers Association voted to press ahead with the strike.

“They were trying to divide the union,” said one of these drivers, who asked that his name not be used. “The company proposal had already been rejected four times by the combined unions. Once we’ve begun as the combined unions, we should not be doing things as individuals.”

Picket lines went up at all eight of the city’s depots, some staffed round the clock. At Roskill depot, workers waved signs in English, Samoan, and Chinese to the passing traffic. Twenty drivers from the Wiri depot traveled south to visit the Papakura Cityline depot, where the drivers are employed by Stagecoach but are not part of the current negotiations. After the drivers from Wiri set up a picket line, the Papakura drivers decided not to take their buses out. The Wiri drivers told the Militant they had received a message of support from drivers employed by Stagecoach in the United Kingdom, where the company is based.

Solomon Auvaa, picketing the Wiri depot, listed what workers have lost in the 17 years since he started work: allowances for shift work, long service, and meals; payment for travel time; transport to and from work; premium pay for weekends; one week of annual holiday; and five of their 10 annual days of sick leave. He estimated this amounted to a loss of about $180 per week. Graham Jackson, who has been a bus driver for 31 years, estimated that cuts in 1992, mainly in overtime and weekend rates, cost him a 40 percent reduction in wages.

As press reports over the first two days of the strike showed, most commuters were siding with the striking drivers, and directing their complaints at the company over the dispute, Stagecoach went on the offensive. It took out first a half-page then a full-page advertisement in Auckland’s daily paper, the New Zealand Herald, to try to shift the blame onto the union. On the second day of the strike, the company announced it would seek a binding ruling from the government Employment Relations Authority on the drivers’ pay rates, arguing the unions have breached “good faith” in the dispute. This would be the first time such an application has been made under a new employment law passed last year. On May 11, Stagecoach upped its offer to $1,200 in lieu of back pay, $15 per hour immediately, $15.40 the next year, and $16 in 2007. This was roundly rejected by an angry meeting of drivers by a 12-to-1 margin. Further talks are now underway, with the prospect of further strike action in early June, if drivers’ demands are not met.

Meanwhile, a number of metalworkers who have taken part in the “Fair Share—Five in ’05” campaign, launched by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) for a 5 percent pay increase, have settled their agreement. Under the Metals and Manufacturing Industries Collective Agreement, workers employed by 73 companies will get the 5 percent raise over a 15-month contract. Workers at 23 other companies have also gained the 5 percent raise, while a number of others are still taking action.

EPMU workers at Bridgestone Tyres in Christchurch are into their fourth week of a strike. On May 6, workers at the Sleepyhead bed factory in Auckland walked out for two days. Three days later, workers at 11 branches of the ANZ and National banks took strike action. They are demanding pay parity with employees of these banks in Australia, who receive extra pay for evening and weekend work.  
 
 
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